Former first lady Barbara Bush isn't attending President-elect Trump's inauguration ( due to her and former President George H.W. Bush's age) but she did "enthusiastically" endorse Trump's pick for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos.

"I am enthusiastically endorsing Betsy DeVos to be our next secretary of education," Bush wrote in an op-ed for the Portland Press Herald

"DeVos has a real compassion for children and a proven record of championing reforms to improve literacy and learning in our nation. I am confident that she will provide the leadership we sorely need to raise the bar on education in America and provide better opportunities for our most vulnerable students."

Bush, who has spent the last quarter-century working to fix high illiteracy in the United States, praised DeVos' efforts on the same issue. "Reading is truly the building block of a successful education, and Mrs. DeVos has fought hard to ensure that elected officials in her home state and across the nation are giving literacy its proper attention."

Bush also praised DeVos on school choice. "She believes passionately that children should have access to high performing schools regardless of their race, income or zip code. That is why she has fought valiantly to give parents of at-risk children the right to send their kids to charter and private schools when the public school system is letting them down."

DeVos will attend a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions on Tuesday.

Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.