Education Secretary Tutwiler takes on second role as interim DESE commissioner

The governor's education secretary, Patrick Tutwiler, will also lead the state's K-12 education department for at least three months, after he was appointed to fill an interim role Monday night over the legal and "good governance" concerns of two members of the board.

Acting Commissioner of the Department of Early and Secondary Education Russell Johnston, who has led the department for a year, is leaving at the end of March to serve as the new superintendent of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The state Board of Education is conducting a search for a new commissioner, but in the meantime will have about a three-month gap to fill before they expect to have the new leader of DESE by a target date of July 1.

The board voted 7-2 on Monday night to have Tutwiler fill that role, from when Johnston leaves in March until a new commissioner is appointed at the end of the school year. Tutwiler — who serves on the board — abstained from voting in the question of his own nomination. He will not receive additional compensation.

Board members Matt Hills and Farzana Mohamed cast their votes against the appointment. They both said that their votes had nothing to do with Tutwiler personally and that he would ably serve, with Hills going as far as to heavily suggest that he hopes Tutwiler one day will apply for the commissioner role full-time.

However, Hills said having an executive office Cabinet secretary also serve as the leader of the state education department could be legally fraught.

"There are parts of several different statutes that I think this is in violation of. I'm not saying this is a criminal offense, that's not my point... I would not be comfortable ignoring what has been in statute for many years," Hills said.

He added that there were alternative options. When former Commissioner Jeff Riley stepped down in March 2024, the department pulled then-acting commissioner Johnston up to serve in the leading role.

In state law, if a commissioner vacancy occurs, the board submits a candidate to the secretary of education for their approval. The secretary may appoint the recommended candidate as commissioner.

"I am quite sure the secretary will do a wonderful job as acting commissioner if he's approved, but at some point, like it actually matters what's written in the statute," Hill said.

Board chair Katherine Craven made the proposal for Tutwiler to serve the dual-roles by saying, "We need an interim commissioner and we are fortunate that Secretary Pat Tutwiler is willing and able to serve in this role during the transition period."

Mohamed said she thought Tutwiler's appointment "fails in a couple of counts... even if it doesn't violate statute."

"I don't think it's good governance practice to serve in both positions simultaneously, even for what might be a short period of time," she said.

Mohamed later added, "I think simply, we can't have a person serving in two full-time positions simultaneously and exercising a proper degree of duty and loyalty to both. And I think a person can't effectively be a supervisor to himself."

Tutwiler clarified that the secretary reports to the governor, while the commissioner reports to the board.

Though Hills and Mohamed opposed the interim appointment, seven board members supported it.

Member Matthew Moriarty said that he was sure the Executive Office of Education and DESE had done their due diligence on the legality of the proposal.

"This is generous of Secretary Tutwiler, and I think will help build kind of a levelness, accord within all the associate commissioners and other folks in the department where we'd otherwise normally be looking to for a short-term interim, and I just think it's a possibility of having a more productive period of time," Moriarty said.

He added that if questions about the legality of Tutwiler's interim appointment were to come up, they'd have time to "correct the mulligan" at the next meeting on March 25, before Johnston departs on March 28.

After the vote was taken, Craven said to Tutwiler, "Congratulations Mr. Secretary / commissioner, interim commissioner, I will use the word interim."

"Pat is fine," he replied.