The Donald Trump transition team is eyeing former Washington, D.C. public school chancellor Michelle Rhee for Secretary of Education, multiple sources close to the transition tell the Daily Mail.

The appointment of Rhee – who has been dubbed 'Public Enemy No. 1' of the teachers' unions -- would be a bold move by the Trump team, and a signal that his administration is gearing up to take an aggressive stance on education reform.

It would also cut across partisan lines. Rhee is a lifelong Democrat, and a proponent of Common Core, a set of federal education standards that is opposed by many conservatives and Donald Trump.

The appointment of Rhee would be a bold move by the Trump team, and a signal that his administration is gearing up to take an aggressive stance on education reform

Trump has vowed to abolish Common Core in his first 100 days as president and replace it with the School Choice and Education Opportunity Act.

The proposal would increase federal funding for school vouchers and charter schools and end federal education standards. It would also seek to increase college affordability.

As a supporter of Common Core, Rhee would be an unexpected choice to lead such a change. But her history of backing school choice and battling the teachers' unions has also earned her support from many conservatives.

Rhee began her career as a teacher with Teach for America, before founding a non-profit group to train educators in 1997.

She came to national prominence in 2007, during her forceful drive to reform D.C. city schools under former Mayor Adrian Fenty. With Fenty's support, Rhee pushed for stronger teacher accountability standards, including pinning teacher salaries to student achievement and an end to the tenure system.

Rhee chats with 3rd-grade student Charleisha Calde at J. O. Wilson Elementary School. Student standardized test scores increased significantly during Rhee's tenure as D.C. chancellor, but opponents of Rhee's policies claimed these results were due to 'widespread test fraud.'

Despite furious blowback from the teachers' unions and their supporters – who called on Fenty to fire Rhee and nicknamed her the 'Wicked Witch' – she managed to negotiate a contract in 2010 that removed some tenure protections for teachers in exchange for performance-based salary increases. Fenty lost his reelection bid later that year, a defeat some critics blamed on Rhee's reform efforts.

While student standardized test scores increased significantly during Rhee's tenure, opponents of Rhee's policies claimed these results were due to 'widespread test fraud.'