Iowa Gov. Reynolds’ education director pick praised, criticized during public hearing

DES MOINES — McKenzie Snow, a former Trump administration education official and Gov. Kim Reynolds’ nominee to direct the Iowa Department of Education, was praised by some Iowa public school leaders — including from the state’s largest district — but also criticized for her dearth of public education experience during a public hearing Tuesday.

The hearing at the Iowa Capitol — a procedural rarity in the Iowa Legislature for gubernatorial nominees — was requested by Iowa Senate Democrats. The Senate later this year will vote on whether to confirm Snow as state education director.

Reynolds appointed Snow, the former deputy secretary of education for Virginia, on June 22, 2023. Snow, who is paid $200,000 a year, was appointed to replace Chad Aldis, who resigned after just three months on the job. He left for unspecified family reasons.

Snow’s appointment is subject to a two-thirds confirmation in the Senate during the current legislative session; if all 34 Senate Republicans vote for her, that would be enough. The two Republicans on the three-member panel that conducted Tuesday morning’s hearing said they plan to support her nomination.

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“Since we first met last summer, I have witnessed her collaboration. Her knowledge level is broad and advanced,” Sen. Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Pella, a member of the panel and chair of the Senate Education Committee, said during the hearing. “And we share this passion for early childhood literacy, which is absolutely foundational to any child’s experience in school.”

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames and a retired professor at Iowa State University, said he does not plan to vote in support of Snow’s nomination because of her lack of experience in public education and what he said was her unwillingness to answer his questions about her resume and public education funding.

“I think that our teachers, our parents, our students in Iowa public education need to have greater degree of confidence in the experience of our leaders in the Department of Education, feeling that the leaders have had a shared experience, that they have gone through the process, that they have developed the skills, that they have the requisite professional credentials,” Quirmbach said during the hearing. “And that they’re willing to take clear positions as far as maintaining the strength of our schools, and the funding related to that. I have not had any indication (of that) today.”

Aldis was confirmed last year largely along party lines, with the support of all Republicans and three Democrats, including Quirmbach. Aldis faced opposition by other Democrats because, similar to Snow, he had never worked as an educator or school administrator. Snow previously worked in then-President Donald Trump’s administration as a K-12 policy director under his secretary of education, Betsy DeVos.

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Snow also has worked as a division director for the New Hampshire Department of Education, and as a policy director for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, an education think tank founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The foundation has advocated for expanding charter schools and taxpayer assistance for private schools.

But multiple Iowa public school leaders spoke at the hearing in support of Snow’s nomination, including the superintendent of the Des Moines Public School District, another superintendent who oversees three small districts in rural Eastern Iowa, the dean of the University of Iowa’s College of Education, the president of Des Moines Area Community College and the president of the Iowa Board of Education.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working as a dean for over 15 years in three different states and worked with many state department of (education) directors, and I would say in our time that we’ve worked together, I would put Director Snow at the very top,” Dan Clay, the UI dean, said while listing examples of his experience working with Snow.

“Director Snow is highly collaborative and the kind of leader Iowa schools need,” Clay said. “She listens very carefully. She asks the right questions. She understands the challenges and opportunities. I will say this: After all of the state department of (education) directors I worked with, I look for three things: Does she have the knowledge and the skills and the disposition to lead our schools in Iowa? And I think that’s a resounding yes.”

Snow’s nomination also will be considered in the Senate Education Committee before receiving the confirmation vote from the full Senate.

Caleb McCullough of The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau contributed.

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