Betsy DeVos Addresses Those Rumors That She’s Resigning

Betsy DeVos is shutting down recent reports that indicated she would soon resign as President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, saying “I’m not planning to go anywhere.”

“Like many of you, I’ve been involved in education reform for some time. For me, it’s been 30 years,” she said Thursday, speaking at the National Summit on Education Reform. “Now, some folks would think that means I should be in the twilight of my career, looking back and winding down with an eye toward retirement.”

“Well, I have a bit of bad news to share with you today,” DeVos added. “Bad news, that is, for the teacher union bosses, the defenders of the status quo, the ‘education-expert’ bloggers and muckrakers and too many legislators on both sides of the aisle in Congress. Allow me to borrow a line from the great American author Mark Twain, ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.’ I’m not planning to go anywhere. In fact, we’re just getting started.”

Reports that DeVos was planning to leave the Trump Administration circulated earlier this month based on a Politico story in which the director of education think tank FutureEd said many people in the education industry assume “she won’t stay long.”

“I’ll tell you, in Washington education circles, the conversation is already about the post-DeVos landscape, because the assumption is she won’t stay long,” Thomas Toch told Politico. “And for my money, I don’t think it would be a bad thing if she left. I think she’s been probably one of the most ineffective people to ever hold the job.”

Other sites picked up the interview and reported that DeVos was expected to resign, citing Toch, who then sought to set the record straight.

“Was tallying DeVos odds in @politico, not suggesting her plane’s idling at National with a flight plan to Michigan. I give her a year,” he said in a tweet.

No Education Department officials made a similar prediction in Politico’s story, and the outlet corrected reports that suggested otherwise: “That is NOT what the POLITICO article said, and there’s no reason to believe DeVos is on her way out.”