March 4, 2025 Story by: Publisher
The Senate voted Monday to confirm former wrestling executive Linda McMahon as the nation’s education chief, a role that places her atop a department that President Donald Trump has vilified and vowed to dismantle.
McMahon will face the competing tasks of winding down the Education Department while also escalating efforts to achieve Trump’s agenda. Already the President has signed sweeping orders to rid America’s schools of diversity programs and accommodations for transgender students while also calling for expanded school choice programs.
Our job is to respect the will of the American people and the President they elected, who has tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of bureaucratic bloat here at the Department of Education—a momentous final mission—quickly and responsibly,” McMahon wrote after taking her new post.
The White House has been clear that it intends to dismantle the department and that it will be McMahon’s job to oversee that effort. The administration has already made cuts to department staff, programs, and research, but it cannot officially close the department, as it was created by an act of Congress in 1979 and can only be closed by that same body.
The Senate voted to confirm McMahon 51-45.
A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds there isn’t much public support for shuttering the agency: 63% of poll respondents opposed getting rid of the Education Department, compared to 37% in favor.
A billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, McMahon, 76, is an unconventional pick for the role. She spent a year on Connecticut’s state board of education and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University but otherwise has little traditional education leadership.
“This is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students. I hope you will join me in ensuring that when our final mission is complete, we will all be able to say that we left American education freer, stronger, and with more hope for the future,” McMahon said.
She acknowledged that only Congress has the power to close the department, and she pledged to preserve Title I money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income college students, and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Yet she suggested some operations could move to other departments, saying Health and Human Services might be better suited to enforce disability rights laws.
Weeks before McMahon’s confirmation hearing, the White House was considering an executive order that would direct the education secretary to cut the agency as much as legally possible while asking Congress to shut it down completely. Some of McMahon’s allies pressed the White House to hold the order until after her confirmation to avoid potential backlash.
Created by Congress in 1979, the Education Department’s primary role is to disburse money to the nation’s schools and colleges. It sends billions of dollars a year to K-12 schools and oversees a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio. Schools and states already wield significantly greater authority over education than the federal government, which is barred from influencing curriculum. Federal money makes up roughly 14% of public school budgets.
Source: Spectrum News 13 / NPR
