“Unlike the prior administration, where there was an appetite for this work at the federal level, I think states are really going to have to be in the driver’s seat,” said Anne Hyslop, a former policy advisor in Obama’s education department, who is now a senior associate at Chiefs for Change, an education-reform advocacy group. “It’s going to take a tremendous amount of state and district leadership to execute on it.”

In her new role, DeVos has spoken about the importance of school diversity. “I think experiencing and being a part of a diverse environment is really critical to the development of any young person,” she said last month at a meeting of magnet schools, which she praised for their historical role as a desegregation tool. But while the principle of student diversity in schools tends to enjoy bipartisan support, many conservatives view government efforts to promote integration as social engineering that restricts parents’ choices of schools. In a speech to school superintendents last Monday, DeVos vowed not to infringe on families’ options: “No parent should feel like the Department of Education thinks it knows better than they what is best for their child,” she said, according to her prepared remarks.

As a longtime philanthropist without prior government experience, DeVos doesn’t have a documented track record on integration policy. For that reason, advocates are paying close attention to what she does with King’s $12 million integration-grant program, known as “Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunities.” It’s meant to help districts improve low-performing schools by adding academic programs that would draw more advantaged students to them, a goal based on extensive research showing that students perform worse in high-poverty schools. The grants are small—ranging from $350,000 to $1.5 million to fund planning work—but 26 districts expressed interest in submitting applications, which were due last month. Because the awards have not yet been made, advocates worry that DeVos could axe the program—a small cost-saving measure, but also one that would signal to districts interested in integration that they’re on their own.

“That’s going to be a real test of her commitment to school integration,” said Philip Tegeler, the executive director of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council.

Recently, Tegeler’s group and other members of the National Coalition on School Diversity sent DeVos a letter urging her to award the grants. An education department spokesman said in an email Friday: “The Department has no comment at this time."

The Obama administration also tried to encourage integration efforts by taking into account whether applicants for other grants—including charter-school funding—had plans to make their schools more diverse. DeVos could preserve those grant competitions but scrap the integration incentives in future rounds, experts said.