Tennessee’s top education official to step down, takes parting shot at ‘culture wars’

Tennessee’s top education official announced her resignation on Monday, denouncing the “culture wars” over how gender and race are taught in the classroom, according to the 74 Million, an education focused outlet.

Republican Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn, a former high school teacher, is stepping down after being appointed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee in February 2019, according to the 74 Million. Over the last four years, Schwinn was praised for launching an accelerated learning program to combat pandemic learning loss but criticized by Republicans for proposing to use federal COVID-19 relief funds on student “well-being checks.”

“I see it as extraneous politics and my job is to educate kids,” Schwinn told the 74 Million about the “culture wars.” “I knew that my charge, first and foremost, was to move our state forward.”

After backlash from Republican state lawmakers, Schwinn reversed her 2020 plan to spend at least $1 million of federal relief funds on student wellness checks, according to Chalkbeat Tennessee. Despite reversing her plan to fund wellness checks, Schwinn said she wished she had spent more time in her role focusing on the mental health of students, the 74 million reported.

Moms for Liberty, a coalition of parents working toward transparency in the classroom, claimed in November 2021 that Schwinn was ignoring their complaint challenging a school district’s use of “Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story,” a book about a young black girl facing racism from white people, in an elementary school classroom. Schwinn told Moms for Liberty that the state Department of Education would not be investigating the district’s use of the book because it had been used during the previous school year.

Schwinn was also criticized by Democrats for her connection to a California charter school and for advocating for school choice, the 74 million reported.

“Whichever side you’re on or whichever kind of philosophy you have, there’s always another push that is frankly very distracting,” Schwinn said. “It can come from the left or the right, and I think it has really decimated our leadership nationally.”

Since January 2022, 17 of the 38 appointed state education leaders nationally have resigned, according to the 74 Million.

To replace Schwinn, Lee has appointed Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds, the vice president of policy at the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a nonprofit focused on school choice and charter school funding, the 74 Million reported.

Schwinn did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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