It may have surprised some observers that President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has no track record in higher-education policy. Instead, Ms. DeVos has made a name for herself as an advocate for charter schools and vouchers that allow public dollars to be spent on private schools. She is also well known for her philanthropy and support of conservative causes.
Ms. DeVos’s lack of higher-education experience isn’t unprecedented. In fact, during the relatively short history of the cabinet position, most who have led the U.S. Department of Education have been steeped in the world of school, rather than higher-education, policy. (Mr. Trump might actually have gone in the other direction: Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, said that he had been offered the job but had turned it down.)
Experts say that the public usually tends to care more about what happens in schools than on campuses. Part of the reason: Most Americans go to elementary and secondary school, said Matthew M. Chingos, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who researches education policy, while many fewer people end up in college.
