WASHINGTON – The cost to taxpayers of protecting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is going up and is expected to be nearly $8 million over the next year, a report says.

The Washington, D.C.-based website and publication POLITICO reported this week that the cost of the security detail for the Michigan millionaire is expected to be $7.74 million between now and the end of September 2019, which is when the new fiscal year ends.

That's according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides around-the-clock security for DeVos, who was a former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman, school of choice advocate and conservative fundraiser and donor before heading to Washington in 2017 to serve the Trump administration.

A Marshals Service spokesman — who declined to say how many people are assigned to providing security for DeVos — said the final cost in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was $6.79 million. That was about $250,000 more than originally anticipated.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered the security detail for DeVos even though it is unusual for an education secretary to receive such protection. But Sessions and the Justice Department deemed it necessary after DeVos began to attract protesters following her confirmation to the post.

In the past, the Education Department's own small group of security personnel had provided protection for the secretary.

According to POLITICO, DeVos and the Education Department have tried to find cost savings where possible, however, with a spokeswoman for the agency saying DeVos, for instance, herself pays for marshals to travel with her on her own private plane. The secretary also pays for all of her own private and public travel, the Education Department has said.

Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.