When it comes to qualifications for a job, it’s in the best interest of the boss to select the most qualified candidate. When it comes to qualifications for politics, it seems to be the candidate with the most zeros in their bank account that wins. Qualifications get lost in a jungle of campaign efforts and the process of signing checks. It seems that anybody with money is able to do just about anything these days. From President Donald Trump winning the election, to his cabinet members consisting of wealthy, successful businessmen, the new potential pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos gels perfectly with the extremely wealthy, and awfully underqualified trend that is set so far.

Betsy Devos is running for a position that revolves around the public schools of America, a system she has been sheltered from her whole life. Betsy Devos attended a private Christian school throughout the entirety of her teenager years, and furthered her education at a private institution. Not only did she not attend public schooling, she has also publicly announced that she has no promises in regards of defunding or privatizing public schools. A nation like the United States, with a population of over 300 million citizens, needs to be able to offer free education to the youth of their Country. Her solution is simple, an educational voucher sent to student’s families to be able to afford private education. Betsy led a program in Nevada testing this out in 2015. The results of this put Nevada rankings the lowest in the nation for student achievement, and ultimately was abused. The student vouchers, of around five thousand dollars, were taken by the richest neighborhoods of Nevada who had access to the best preforming public schools in Nevada. The vouchers are sent to student’s families in checks, as ways to make private education more affordable. The vouchers range up to five thousand dollars, which is approximately half a year at a private school. Defunding public schooling will increase cost of general education, adding to the burden families take on to pay for their children’s future.

Betsy Devos and Donald Trump have stated they have a 10 billion dollar budget on education vouchers, an estimated 2 thousand value per student.  Defunding public school, and adding to the national debt for the sole purpose of private schooling that can enforce the words of the bible, is not a solution to anything. Being elected as the secretary of Education, you should focus on the kids of families with nothing just as much as the families who have everything.