Penny Schwinn is greeted by students at Fairmount Elementary in Bristol, Tenn., on June 14, 2021, during her tenure as Tennessee's education commissioner. Schwinn's nomination to serve as deputy education secretary in President Donald Trump's second term has drawn praise from across the political spectrum.
Donald Trump speaks at meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. He returned to the White House this week, taking a flurry of executive actions, some of which could affect schools.
Students arrive for school Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said it had revoked a policy that kept immigration agents from making arrests and conducting enforcement raids at schools and other places considered sensitive locations.
From left, former education secretaries Margaret Spellings, John King, and Arne Duncan. The three former agency heads, who served during the Bush and Obama administrations respectively, discussed the future of the U.S. Department of Education during a Jan. 21, 2025, event hosted by the Brookings Institution.
President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term in office. Trump was expected to sign dozens of executive actions, some of them affecting schools, on his first day.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on Aug. 8, 2023, at Windham High School in Windham, N.H. Trump returns to the White House on Monday, and in his second term could include policies that reshape the landscape for K-12 schools.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona speaks during “The Impact: Our Fight for Public Education” event at the Department of Education’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, 2025. The event served as the capstone to Cardona's four years as education secretary under President Joe Biden.
Scarlett Rasmussen, 8, watches a video on her tablet as mother, Chelsea, administers medication while they get ready for school, May 17, 2023, at their home in Grants Pass, Ore. The Education Department has scrapped a proposal that would have changed the process for how schools bill Medicaid for services they provide to students.
Anjali Verma, 18, takes an online calculus class after her occupational therapy appointment at the Doylestown Library in Doylestown, Pa., on Dec. 5, 2024.
Coleton McLemore is silhouetted against the sky during the Commencement Exercises for the Class of 2020 at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School's Tommy Cash Stadium on July 31, 2020 in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. The country will see a peak in high school graduates in 2025, followed by a steady decline through 2041, affecting most of the nation.
C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP
President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage before speaking at the FOX Nation Patriot Awards on Dec. 5, 2024, in Greenvale, N.Y. With the frameworks now in place, Trump has laid priorities for education.
Linda McMahon, former Administrator of Small Business Administration, speaks during the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. McMahon, Trump's choice to lead the U.S. Department of Education in his second term, has a long history of giving to education causes through her family foundation.
Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, speaks during a hearing on antisemitism in K-12 public schools on May 8, 2024, in Washington. At a hearing on Dec. 4, 2024, the subcommittee discussed civics and government curriculum.
People walk outside the U.S Capitol building in Washington, June 9, 2022. Legislation has been introduced in the Senate to abolish the Department of Education.
An empty classroom is shown at A.G. Hilliard Elementary School on Sept. 2, 2017, in Houston. Texas's state school board has approved a curriculum with Bible-infused lessons, the latest of a wave of state policies challenging the church-state divide in schools.
Students arrive for classes at Taylor Allderdice High School in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Jan. 23, 2024. As part of a recent court settlement, Pennsylvania will no longer require school districts to follow its set of guidelines that sought to confront racial and cultural biases in education.
