Penny Schwinn Listed Among University of Florida Admin Allegedly Hired for Unreasonable Salaries by Anti-Trump Ben Sasse

Former Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn, whom President Donald Trump controversially nominated to serve as the Deputy Secretary of Education for his second administration, was among those listed in a report issued by the Florida Auditor General who were hired under the questionable practices employed by the anti-Trump former Senator Ben Sasse when he served as the President of the University of Florida (UF).

Sasse hired Schwinn to serve as the Vice President for PK-12 and the Pre-Bachelors Program at UF in September 2023, just months after he began leading the university following his departure from the U.S. Senate and appointment by Governor Ron DeSantis.

According to the January 28 report, Schwinn is among 24 employees who were hired by Sasse without justifications for their salary, a clear job description, or an explanation of how those hired were qualified for their positions.

The report states that Schwinn’s position was among the 24 placed by Sasse without creating a description for the workload, including “preferred qualifications and additional duties.”

Her salary was additionally “not supported by the University market-rate pay schedule,” with the report stating Sasse claimed he “exercised discretion in establishing the salaries,” though declined to provide information that would help the auditors “identify the basis for those salaries.”

It also claimed the hiring of Schwinn and the other employees “did not comply with University policies by employing a competitive recruitment process,” and noted that Sasse, as the university’s president, “was responsible for those hiring decisions.”

Schwinn was not mentioned by name in the report, but the name of the position she held at UF was listed in the footnotes for each of the allegations about Sasse’s hiring process.

The report was published months after Sasse resigned from the university in July 2024, when he cited concerns over his wife’s health. Schwinn and six others, described as “allies” of Sasse, would leave the university by the end of the following month.

Multiple Tennessee conservatives questioned Schwinn’s nomination, referencing controversies that erupted after she allowed a curriculum in Tennessee that pushed LGBTQ education on children, ignored the concerns of parents over lewd reading materials in libraries, and proposed an invasive “monthly child well-being” that would have seen educators paid to monitor the mental health of students.

“Mr. President, I hope you will listen to conservative voices in the state who led the battle against critical theory and DEI supplanting traditional educational practices,” stated Dr. Carol Swain, the Tennessee-based conservative political author. “Whoever recommended Ms. Schwinn hasn’t told you the full story.”

If both nominees are confirmed, Schwinn would serve under Linda McMahon, whom Trump nominated to be the Secretary of the Department of Education.

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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “University of Florida” by Spohpatuf. CC BY-SA 3.0.