Penny Schwinn is withdrawing from consideration to serve in the No. 2 position at the U.S. Department of Education.
The decision, announced in a Thursday webinar on education funding and policy, comes as the former Tennessee education commissioner’s nomination has stalled after a U.S. Senate committee sent it to the full chamber for approval in late June. There was concern that she would not clear the necessary votes in the Senate, after her record and past comments on battles regarding gender and race in classrooms alienated some conservative lawmakers.
“It’s been her choice. She secured the votes that would have been necessary to get into the office but has decided at this time it’s best to contribute from the outside and she’s going to be playing a key role, still helping to advise the secretary in the department there,” Anna Edwards, chief advocacy officer for the consulting firm Whiteboard Advisors, said during the webinar.
The Education Department confirmed Schwinn’s decision minutes later, saying Schwinn would serve as a senior adviser and chief strategist in the agency—roles that don’t require Senate confirmation.
“I’m grateful to President Trump and Secretary McMahon, and remain committed to protecting kids, raising achievement, and expanding opportunity—my lifelong mission and north star,” Schwinn said in a statement.
McMahon said in the news release she was grateful to Schwinn.
“Penny is a brilliant education mind, and I look forward to continue working with her as my Chief Strategist to Make Education Great Again,” she said.
Some conservatives were unhappy with Schwinn’s appointment
Schwinn, a longtime educator and Tennessee state education chief from 2019 to 2023, was nominated by President Donald Trump in January to serve as deputy under Education Secretary Linda McMahon. But she has faced turbulence in her nomination over Republicans’ concerns about her alignment with Trump.
She had criticized culture war battles over gender and race instruction as “extraneous politics” in a 2023 interview with The 74, and has said a lack of civility and common decency over divisive culture issues factored into her decision to step down from her post in Tennessee.
She also faced scrutiny over her roles in education-related businesses, and pledged to resign from board memberships and divest herself of some corporate ownership stakes if confirmed.
Some conservatives had chafed at her appointment, unsatisfied with how Schwinn handled COVID-19 protocols and battles over instruction about gender and race during her tenure in Tennessee. She faced pushback on her nomination from members of the GOP, and vocal conservative groups in Tennessee and nationally, who called for her nomination to be rescinded.
But she drew wide praise from education experts, including former education secretaries from both parties, who highlighted her track record in Tennessee, where she led an overhaul of the state’s school funding formula and oversaw an effort to establish the first federally registered teacher apprenticeship program aimed at expanding the teacher pipeline. She’s also held posts in the Delaware and Texas state education departments.
“I think Penny is a terrific, principled leader. She has fought hard on literacy, on empowering parents. She was entirely supportive of slashing red tape and tackling federal bloat. I think she was a terrific nominee,” said Rick Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning policy think tank.
Hess said Schwinn’s focus on evidence-based reading instruction, school choice, and reopening schools during the pandemic, rather than digging in on debates over gender and race instruction, rankled conservative groups, like the Moms for Liberty chapter in Tennessee.
“Their concerns were less with what Penny was doing, and more with that she, like other leaders, had spent more time fighting back against the craziness,” he said.
Lindsay Fryer, president of the consulting firm Lodestone DC, who previously served as a policy adviser to former Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., when he chaired the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, said Schwinn’s withdrawal was disheartening.
“Her track record in Tennessee speaks for itself,” Fryer said. “She’s always been laser-focused on student outcomes, and could have been a great asset to the department.”
Schwinn’s withdrawal will have downstream consequences, said Jim Blew, who served as an assistant secretary in the Education Department during Trump’s first term.
“Linda McMahon has been charged with some very serious responsibilities,” he said. “Linda McMahon needs her cabinet. ... I’m hoping that the Senate starts getting serious and begins to approve those nominees so that the work can get done. And it’s work that the Congress assigned to them through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Schwinn’s withdrawal comes as the Education Department rapidly changes under Trump. It’s shed about half its staff, and Trump has ordered McMahon to “facilitate” the agency’s closure.
During the webinar, Edwards—who worked with Schwinn during her tenure at state education departments in Delaware, Tennessee, and Texas—said Schwinn’s decision to be involved was “really important.”
“Her experience in those positions in the states is going to make her really valuable and a huge asset to the department in that capacity as we navigate some of these dynamics at play,” she said.
Republicans pressed Schwinn for commitment to Trump’s agenda
During her confirmation hearing in June, Republicans pressed Schwinn for her commitment to the president’s social policy agenda to eradicate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and policies that allow transgender students to compete on teams that align with their gender identity, which the Education Department has been aggressively pursuing through civil rights investigations and policy memos to school leaders.
She vowed to lawmakers that she was committed to the president’s vision. The committee voted along party lines to advance her nomination to the full Senate.
Her connections to numerous education-related businesses also raised some flags. She agreed she would resign from a number of roles, pledged to divest ownership interests, and vowed to no longer take clients for two LLCs she owns and for which she is the sole employee. An attempt to start a business in Florida after her nomination was announced in January was also the subject of possible concern, The 74 reported last month. Her business partner filed paperwork removing Schwinn from the enterprise in March, and dissolved the company in late May.
As Schwinn awaited a hearing and vote on her nomination, she appeared alongside McMahon at a March event with state education chiefs, and met privately with the group as well.
