Hassan Raises Concerns About Trump's Pick For Education Secretary

Source: NHPR

Hassan Raises Concerns About Trump's Pick For Education Secretary

New Hampshire U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan is raising concerns about President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head the federal Department of Education.

The Democratic senator met Monday with Betsy DeVos, a billionaire Republican activist and school choice proponent who has supported publicly-funded vouchers for use at private and religious schools.

In a statement released after their meeting, Hassan said she remains concerned about what she described as DeVos' lack of experience in and support for public education.

"I also have concerns about her support for diverting taxpayer dollars to private schools without accountability requirements, which would weaken investments in public education," Hassan said in the statement.

Hassan is a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and will participate in DeVos' confirmation hearings.

A hearing originally slated for Wednesday has been delayed until next week.

The Office of Government Ethics had warned against holding a hearing for DeVos before it could finish its required ethics review.