Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' office has denied rumors she plans on stepping down from President Donald Trump's Cabinet in January.
As Secretary of Education, DeVos has been subject to derision for her stance on charter schools, protections for transgender students, and investigations into allegations of sexual assault on college campuses.
Michael Petrilli, the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education think tank, wrote last week that "now is a good time for [DeVos] to leave Washington."
"The rumors are just that . . . rumors," DeVos' press secretary, Liz Hill, told the Detroit Free Press. "The Secretary has no plans of stepping down."
Petrilli wrote "no one can deny that DeVos got off to a weak start with her inadequately rehearsed confirmation hearing," which was decided by a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence, though he says she eventually "pushed education policy in the right direction."
Despite this improvement, Petrilli claims she should leave before Trump's term ends and before Democrats are officially in control of the House.
"The question facing Secretary DeVos is whether to participate in these show trials," he wrote. "She has another option . . . She can choose to step down and gracefully exit a thankless, no-win scene."
By doing this, "she can take some wind out of the crazy-left's sails by allowing someone else to make the trip to Capitol Hill for the oversight hearings that lie ahead," and "take a talking point away from the unions and other anti-reformers by returning to private life."