Seeking a deputy secretary post in the Trump administration, former Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn is promising to eliminate financial conflicts of interest to get the job, including minimizing ties to a Tennessee lobbying firm.

Schwinn, who left the state job in 2023 and served for a short time as Vice President for PK-12 and Pre-Bachelors Programs at the University of Florida, was selected for the U.S. Department of Education position nearly as soon as President Donald Trump won election this year but still hasn’t received Senate confirmation to take the appointment.

In a May 5 letter to an Education Department ethics official, the former Tennessee education leader for Gov. Bill Lee described steps she would take to avoid any “actual or apparent” conflict of interest, i

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