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The Senate has moved at record speed to confirm all the President’s Cabinet Members, but they still have thousands of confirmable positions to work through. One nominee that they will consider is Penny Schwinn for the office of Deputy Secretary of Education. With President Donald Trump’s intent to significantly reduce the size and scope of the Department of Education, those who are put in these positions must be aligned with this mission and be vigilant about seeing it through. Unfortunately, Schwinn has a troubling record of supporting policies that counter the President’s agenda.
Schwinn has a problematic record. She was endorsed by Democrats in 2013 when she was elected to the Sacramento School Board. In 2014, she moved to Delaware to work for the state’s Department of Education to implement testing in public schools. But her tenure there was marked by unmet goals, divisiveness with board members, and a grievance with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights over policies resulting in the resegregation of schools.
She then moved to Texas, where Schwinn worked with radical pro-abortion groups and transgender educators for the development of “health education” standards that stand in contrast to the goals of the Trump administration. She awarded a $4.4 million contract to a Georgia software startup without competitive bidding. After yet more controversy among her staff and an alleged unfunded mandate to impose standardized tests, she fled to Tennessee.
In Tennessee, she was appointed an Education Commissioner in 2019. While in that position, she refused to enforce the critical race theory (CRT) ban and remove books that included pornographic materials. She was slow to reopen schools after the COVID-19 pandemic and imposed a mental health inspection program for children beginning at birth. Schwinn suggested “child wellbeing checks” during the pandemic that posed a threat to parental and privacy rights, contrary to the principles of the U.S. Constitution and the Trump Administration. Prominent supporters of parental rights in Tennessee including Robby Starbuck and Dr. Carol Swain have criticized her nomination.
Penny Schwinn was also part of Chiefs for Change, a group that touts DEI as a core principle, and is a member of UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition. Finally, in both Texas and Tennessee, Schwinn was directly involved in securing contracts that raised serious ethical questions.
Penny Schwinn’s record is troubling. Her past support for policies that undermine parental rights and support CRT and DEI raises red flags. Returning control over education is a key plank in the President’s platform, and we believe Penny Schwinn is not the person we need to implement this worthy goal.
Please call or email your Senators and urge them to oppose Penny Schwinn for Deputy Secretary of Education.
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