Brumbaugh returned to work at Huntingdon Normal School (now renamed
Juniata College) in 1895, where he stayed until 1910. Brumbaugh remained closely connected to the college, returning to become its president in 1926. A leading proponent of educational modernization, Brumbaugh oversaw reform of the teacher training curriculum for the state of Louisiana. After the
American invasion of Puerto Rico, then a wealthy overseas province of Spain, and the
Treaty of Paris of 1899, Brumbaugh was charged with implementation of an American-style educational system in
Puerto Rico. Brumbaugh dissolved the entire Education Ministry that had been in place for centuries. Brumbaugh had the entire public school faculty, most of whom were trained professors of either
Antillean or Peninsular Spanish origins, fired and deported. He then brought from the US Anglophone school teachers, including his cousin Dr. D. Brumbaugh, considered more "friendly to the American cause". The American school teachers spoke only English while the island's primary language was Spanish, with some French and Italian speakers. In less than 18 months, school absenteeism shot up to 98% with the ensuing performance collapse of a population that spoke one language and the teachers another. Those children who did go to school were punished for speaking Spanish, and put down for their culture. With the backing of the U'S. sponsored military government, Brumbaugh "Americanized" the entire curriculum. He re-wrote the Puerto Rican history curriculum, purged from it any data threatening to the "American cause". In addition, he began to edit and doctor data so as to exacerbate anything political or social by the former Spanish authorities, making it negative, out of context and proportion, in a national humiliation process that caused tremendous public outrage and protests. To this day, the island's educational system still suffers from Brumbaugh's "reforms". After he left Puerto Rico he held lecturer positions at the
University of Pennsylvania and
Harvard University. In 1906, he became superintendent of the
Philadelphia Public Schools and gained statewide recognition for his performance in this role. A conservative and religious but usually apolitical man, Brumbaugh was nevertheless courted by the Republican Party to run for governor in 1914, after corruption and infighting marred the
1910 campaign. While in office, Brumbaugh fought to expand educational funding, spur highway construction, and support farmers but also blocked labor reform and supported alcohol prohibition. During his term in office, he chided the state legislature for spending beyond its means and emphasized this point by vetoing 409 pieces of legislation. He received the largest share of the popular vote in the
1916 Republican Party presidential primaries. Brumbaugh was an elected member of the
American Philosophical Society. He was also president of the
Pennsylvania German Society in 1927. Brumbaugh died of a
heart attack on March 14, 1930, while playing golf on vacation in
Pinehurst, North Carolina. ==Legacy==