Republican Rep. John Rose, running for Governor in 2026, posted a social media comment on his plans for his education chief if elected that many political observers see as a subtle dig at Governor Bill Lee. Rose posted a comment on X stating: “As Governor, education will be a top priority and I’ll appoint a Commissioner of Education with Tennessee teaching experience.”
Governor Lee’s current commissioner of education, Lizette Reynolds, is not from Tennessee; she came to the state from Texas. More importantly, she had, and still has, no actual classroom teaching experience or credentials, despite Tennessee law requiring such experience for someone to serve as the Tennessee Commissioner of Education. If Rose is elected governor and follows up on his plan to appoint an education commissioner who is from Tennessee and is in compliance with the laws of Tennessee, it would be a welcome change from the pattern of appointments under Governor Lee.
Tennessee law provides for the requirements necessary to serve in that capacity. According to a century-old law, the education commissioner “shall be a person of literary and scientific attainments and of skill and experience in school administration,” and “qualified to teach in the school of the highest standing over which the commissioner has authority.” Governor Bill Lee ignored that long when he appointed Reynolds to fill the position when the previous education commissioner, Penny Schwinn, resigned.
Some legislators raised objections to her appointment being in violation of state law and Lee excused it by saying that she would obtain the necessary certification and credentials. So though Tennessee’s unqualified Education Commissioner was collecting over $21,000 per month to oversee the State’s public schools and ram through Lee’s school voucher scheme, she lied on an official state document about her length of service in order to receive a tuition waiver from UT Martin, where she enrolled in order to gain certification as a teacher. Reynolds became a state employee on July 1, 2023, and on August 14 she swore under oath that she had been a state employee for six months. Her chief operating officer also lives under oath on that same form claiming that Reynolds had been employed for the six months required in order to obtain tuition reimbursement from taxpayers.
The two committed perjury a second time, in order to facilitate her obtaining taxpayer funds to get the qualifications she was legally required to have had before she got hired.
After it was revealed that she had not only perjured herself, but also taken taxpayer funds under false pretenses, at least one law maker, representative Todd Warner, called for her resignation. She refused to resign and Governor Lee refused to fire her. And no district attorney either in Nashville, where she worked, or in Martin Tennessee where she was seeking an education degree for the University of Tennessee at Martin, we’re willing to prosecute her for well documented perjury.
After she was caught filing the false statements under oath to obtain taxpayer funds to pay for her tuition at UT Martin, she returned the funds and claimed it was only a “clerical error“.
https://fox17.com/news/crisis-in-the-classroom/tennessee-education-commissioner-under-fire-for-alleged-false-tuition-waiver-lizzette-reynolds Reynolds never clarified whether or not she also reimbursed the state for interest on the funds she had illegally obtained.
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
