The government-school establishment and liberal educators were more than pleased—if a little perplexed—with the nomination of controversial former Tennessee education chief Penny Schwinn to serve as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education under President Donald Trump.
Numerous proponents of government-funded “school choice” have also celebrated the Trump administration’s nomination, pointing to her history of supporting tax funding for alternatives to traditional public schools. Bizarrely, some touted the 38 percent proficiency rate in reading among Tennessee students as evidence of her “success.”
But many conservative leaders and education reformers are sounding the alarm, urging the president and the Senate to keep her out. Breccan Thies at The Federalist said Schwinn could be a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” From massive government overreach to dubious contracts with potential conflicts of interest, red flags involving her career are everywhere.
Conservative star Dr. Carol Swain, former Vanderbilt professor of law, encouraged Trump to rethink the nomination. “Mr. President, I hope you will listen to conservative voices in the state who led the battle against critical theory and DEI supplanting traditional educational practices,” she said. “Whoever recommended Ms. Schwinn hasn’t told you the full story.”
Among other concerns, critics of Schwinn’s tenure in Tennessee pointed to proposed universal government “wellness checks” for all children during COVID. While authorities eventually backed off the scheme after facing a massive backlash from across the state and beyond, the fact that it was proposed at all offers insight into Schwinn’s views.
According to documents obtained by The Newman Report at the time, the “wellbeing checks” were to include home interviews of all children, preferably without parents around, “directly and as privately as possible.” The goal was to have the government check on every single child in the state, from birth to age 18, at least monthly.
The bureaucrats were supposed to “gauge general stress level” and push government “services,” including free “devices” for children. Everything from food, transportation, and housing to dentistry, “hygiene procedures,” “mental health,” and vaccines was included in documents about what government officials were supposed to meddle in.
“Since we know many children have experienced adversity due to the pandemic, child wellbeing checks are a deliberate way all stakeholders in the community can help ensure the needs of our children are met,” said then-Tennessee Education boss Schwinn, as if “stakeholders,” rather than parents, were in charge of caring for “our” children.
Schwinn eventually apologized for the Orwellian proposal after it sparked a nationwide scandal. But the cat was out of the bag: Schwinn—like Biden, Harris, Clinton, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and so many other totalitarians—regard the upbringing of children as a governmental responsibility.
“Our children were where they had always been. Homeschools were not closed down,” Tiffany Boyd, who runs the Christian homeschooling group Free Your Children, was quoted as saying in the press. “We thought that she was a threat to Tennessee then. We now think that she’s a threat to the entire United States.”
Ironically, the one issue some conservatives have cited to defend Schwinn’s nomination proves the worst fears of critics. “For school choice to work, there needs to be understandable, accurate, and accessible information for parents,” she said. “Well-defined benchmarks for quality and outcomes must be publicly stated and honestly reported.”
In other words, “school choice” means the government will dictate everything from “quality” to “outcomes” at formerly independent private schools, home education programs, and more. This is exactly what critics have been warning about when it comes to tax-funded “school choice” schemes: They will eliminate real choice and put government in charge.
Controversy around Schwinn’s support for “woke” programs featuring Critical Race Theory and other extremism is also growing. In fact, less than two years ago, she blasted concerns over the indoctrination of children with that sort of left-wing ideology as “distractions.” Critics say she resisted efforts to remove the extremism from the classroom, too.
“[Schwinn] is the queen bee of indoctrination and left a trail of destruction in TN filled with rotten curriculum, (Wit and Wisdom) DEI programs, ‘wellness checks,’ masking, CRT and SEL,” explained a Tennessee chapter of Moms for Liberty, a powerhouse organization whose leaders are close to the administration.
“Our official position is that we are 100% against Penny Schwinn’s nomination for Deputy Secretary of Education,” the chapter posted online, pointing to ethical concerns in contracting as well. “Please write to your senator right now to oppose this nomination!” Numerous other national groups are working behind the scenes to stop the pick, too.
Yet another concern has been raised over Schwinn’s history with conflict-of-interest scandals. In Tennessee, she signed a multimillion-dollar contract for a “reading initiative” with a company her husband was working for at the time. Similar conflict-of-interest scandals surfaced while she was working as a top education bureaucrat in Texas.
Interestingly, prior to news about Trump’s looming orders on shuttering the whole Department of Education, analysts noted that Schwinn’s nomination suggested Trump was unlikely to shutter it. He has been publicly promoting the idea since his successful 2016 campaign, and media reports suggest efforts to complete that mission may be looming.
Still, Schwinn has defenders. Liberal apologists for failing government schools gushed over the nomination. Georgetown University director of the “FutureEd” think tank Thomas Toch referred to her as a “pragmatic Republican.” Such terminology is often code among liberals for what conservatives call Republican In Name Only (RINO).
Toch was quoted in the media arguing that Schwinn was able to navigate “relationships with deep-red state leaders frequently more interested in leveraging education for political purposes than improving opportunities and outcomes for students.” RINOs such as Jeb Bush and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee have both supported the nomination.
She does have at least one defender on the right: Anti-DEI activist Chris Rufo. The well-known activist leader said he met with senior officials on Trump’s education team and also offered Schwinn an opportunity to respond to the growing chorus of criticism. Apparently, he was impressed enough with her answers to get to bat for her.
Writing on social media, Rufo said Schwinn’s response showed him she was serious about Trump’s agenda to “shut down the terrible programs at the Department of Education, fight critical race theory, gender cultism, and DEI in America’s schools, and support new initiatives on school choice and classical education.”
On both sides of the aisle, there is confusion about why Schwinn would be nominated to help lead the U.S. Department of Education. If the department is ultimately shut down in a meaningful way (without moving all the functions to other departments), it may be a moot point. But if not, it would behoove the U.S. Senate to seriously examine her record.
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