RAUNER AMONG GOP GOVS TO SUPPORT TRUMP EDUCATION PICK

In one of his strongest public shows of support for Donald Trump, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner joined 19 other Republican governors to support the presidentelect’s controversial nominee for secretary of education.

Philanthropist Betsy DeVos is an “inspired choice,” Republican governors from 18 states and two U. S. territories wrote to the Senate committee tasked with approving her nomination, saying she “will fight to streamline the federal education bureaucracy” and also is a “passionate supporter . . . of harnessing the power of competition to drive improvement in all K- 12 schools, whether they be public, private or virtual.”

The hearing was postponed until Jan. 17 “at the request of Senate leadership” to accommodate scheduling. Senators said they wanted more time to examine DeVos’ financial filings, given her vast wealth and history of political donations.

DeVos isn’t a teacher or a public school graduate. Instead, she has supported educational causes, primarily alternatives to traditional public schools, with tens of millions from the fortune she shares with her husband, Richard DeVos, son of the founder of Amway. She has championed vouchers, backing a failed ballot proposal in Michigan to amend the state’s constitution so students could pay private and religious school tuition with public money.

Rauner is also a charter school champion and knows DeVos. “I have great respect for her,” he told reporters in December. “I think she’s a very talented and very passionate education advocate. And I personally am a believer in school choice. And I look forward to working together.”