State superintendents, outside organizers and even former rivals of President-elect Trump have all been floated as potential picks to lead his Department of Education.
Trump’s Cabinet picks are coming fast and furious one week after his election, and the next Education secretary could also be the last, as Trump and his allies have regularly discussed eliminating the entire department.
The 45th and 47th president has floated some potential names for the position on the campaign trail, and experts are pointing to others who have positioned themselves favorably for the role.
Trump’s pick could send a strong signal about his plans for the future of the department, which will also include rolling back Biden administration efforts on student loans and protections for transgender students.
“I’d probably be looking for a strong, capable, demonstrated state leader, somebody who had been the state chief school officer,” said Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
Recently, Oklahoma’s Ryan Walters has made big waves for his culture war battles, including mandating Bibles in every public school classroom and backing the nation’s first openly religious charter school, whose creation has been blocked by the courts.
“The first name that comes to mind … for who, at least, I feel like has been resonant with Trump, and what he emphasizes in education is Ryan Walters, the superintendent of public instruction in Oklahoma,” said Neal McCluskey, director for the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute.
“He seems to be keyed into the same things as Trump is. He is very much opposed to things he calls woke and has acted on that, and he is a supporter of school choice, which Trump is as well,” he added.
And Walters has welcomed Trump’s election, on Monday announcing a state committee to streamline education changes under the second Trump White House, including the potential death of the federal department.
“The future of Oklahoma’s public education is bright with incoming President Donald Trump who has been a fearless champion of efforts to eliminate the federal bureaucracy that has shut local communities and parents out of the decisions that impact their students’ educations,” he said.
While Walters has consistently made headlines in recent months, there are other states with education leaders that conservatives would like to see elevated.
“The ones that come to mind when I think of those are Cade Brumley in Louisiana, who I think is, you know, is terrific. His conservative bona fides are in very good order. And he’s, just very, very smart and far-sighted,” Pondiscio said.
“Penny Schwinn would be on that list. She was, until recently, the education commissioner in the state of Tennessee, and did terrific work there in terms of improving literacy, which I think is important. Manny Diaz is the third one that comes to mind in the state of Florida, who — Florida has had just a very consistent run, like for almost 20 years. Florida has been a very steady presence in its performance under successive governors and state chiefs,” he added.
Florida’s efforts on education have been national news for years, from its attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion offices to its public battle with the College Board over its African American studies course.
And Trump, who changed his official residence from New York to Florida in 2019, is already in the process of tapping multiple Sunshine State officials for his Cabinet, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R) as secretary of State and Rep. Michael Waltz (R) to serve as national security adviser.
One famous Floridian who would make for an attention-grabbing choice would be Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a group that became active during the COVID-19 school closures and has continued to grow, wading into issues including school book bans and transgender rights.
While Justice does not have a college degree and her experience in politics beyond sitting on a school board is limited before Moms for Liberty, experts say she is a great messenger for Trump and would carry out his objectives well.
“If I had to put a bet on the likeliest […] I would put Tiffany down as probably the likeliest, insofar as you would expect that Trump would want somebody who would be an extremely good, bold, fearless, effective communicator and surrogate. And I think that Tiffany has proven herself to be kind of one of the most courageous communicators on the right on education policy since [former Education Secretary] William Bennett,” said Max Eden, a research fellow at AEI.
Trump himself floated two names on the campaign trail for Education secretary: former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R) of New York. But Zeldin was just picked to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency, and observers don’t think Ramaswamy is a good fit for the role.
“Maybe Vivek wants it, maybe he’ll get it, I would be more surprised than not, because it would not seem to be a clear stepping stone to future success. I think it’s kind of a job for somebody who wants to do that job,” Eden said.
And it’s always possible Trump could return to a previous pick. Betsy DeVos, his Education secretary from his first term, has expressed interest in the position, though her resignation on Jan. 7, 2021, in the wake of the Capitol riot, likely dooms her chances.
“I have been really clear about what I think needs to be the agenda, which is to get the federal tax credit passed and to de-power the Department of Education. If President-elect Trump wanted to talk to me, I would be very open to talking,” DeVos told Education Week.
