Dive Brief:

• With Congress back in session and President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration just a couple weeks away, senators will begin discussing the merits of secretary of education nominee Betsy DeVos next week.
• Wood TV reports the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has a hearing about DeVos scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, and if the committee approves her nomination, the full Senate will vote after Trump takes office.
• While the Washington Post reports Democrats have identified DeVos as one of eight nominees they plan to target during the confirmation proceedings, Republicans have enough of a majority in the Senate to approve Devos’ nomination without any bipartisan support.

Dive Insight:

Betsy DeVos is a Michigan billionaire who has not held any leadership positions in schools but has been actively involved in education reform battles in her home state and beyond. DeVos is perhaps best known for her efforts to expand school choice. She is a fierce opponent of regulation that prevents the freedom of charter schools, and she has advocated the creation and expansion of voucher programs in multiple states.

As U.S. secretary of education, DeVos will have less power than her predecessors in the Obama administration, who were operating under a different set of laws and regulations. The Every Student Succeeds Act has recently returned a significant amount of power to the states when it comes to education decision-making. There are still several areas in which the next secretary of education will shape the future of public education in the United States, however — including civil rights.