WASHINGTON — U.S. schooling secretary nominee Linda McMahon informed a Senate panel Thursday that, if confirmed, she wouldn’t defund public colleges however would search to reform the U.S. Division of Schooling by lowering federal paperwork and bringing colleges again to the fundamentals of studying and math.
“We’re failing our college students, our Division of Schooling, and what we’re doing right now just isn’t working, and we have to change it,” McMahon stated.
Nevertheless, when requested about some particular modifications she would make to Schooling Division programming, McMahon stated, if confirmed, she would consider division capabilities earlier than making suggestions. She stated she would “reorient the division towards serving to educators, not controlling them.”
The two ½-hour affirmation listening to, held by the Committee on Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions, was briefly interrupted 5 occasions by individuals protesting McMahon’s nomination. The Republican-controlled Senate is predicted to approve McMahon’s nomination within the coming days.
McMahon’s affirmation listening to comes amid drastic modifications on the Schooling Division. President Donald Trump has already issued numerous govt orders that severely restrict federal funding, prohibit actions associated to range, fairness and inclusion, and name for an finish to “indoctrination” in Okay-12 colleges, which he stated consists of “gender ideology and discriminatory fairness ideology.”
Trump can be anticipated to subject an govt order that will considerably cut back the Schooling Division’s authority and accountability within the federal authorities.
In fiscal 12 months 2024, the Schooling Division acquired $79.1 billion from Congress. Lawmakers have but to approve FY 2025 funding.
Among the many Schooling Division’s obligations is managing $1.6 trillion in larger schooling scholar loans.
A protester disrupts Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. schooling secretary, as she testifies throughout her Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee affirmation listening to on Capitol Hill on Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Kayla Bartkowski by way of Getty Pictures
Trump nominated McMahon simply weeks after successful the November election. McMahon served as administrator of the Small Enterprise Administration for 2 years in Trump’s first administration. She can be a former president and CEO of World Wrestling Leisure.
McMahon can be board chair at America First Coverage Institute, a nonprofit assume tank that helps free enterprise and nationalism. On the state stage, McMahon served on the Connecticut State Board of Schooling. She additionally served as a trustee at Sacred Coronary heart College, a personal Catholic college in Fairfield, Connecticut. She is at present the treasurer on the college’s Board of Trustees, based on the varsity’s web site.
In 2012, she gained the Connecticut Republican main for U.S. Senate however misplaced to present Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who’s a member of the HELP committee.
If the Senate approves McMahon’s nomination, she would succeed Miguel Cardona because the thirteenth U.S. schooling secretary because the division’s founding in 1979.
Listed below are three takeaway exchanges from the affirmation listening to.
Antisemitism on school campuses
A number of Republican senators requested McMahon about antisemitism on school campuses.
“Will you guarantee that Jewish People are secure on our campuses, for heaven’s sake?” requested Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., referring to “a wave of antisemitism” notably because the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel. “Will you guarantee that this stops on our school campuses which might be getting all of this federal tax cash?”
McMahon stated she would “completely,” or colleges would “face defunding of their monies.”
A number of senators requested McMahon concerning the Schooling Division’s accountability for the federal scholar mortgage program. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., questioned McMahon’s dedication to current public service mortgage forgiveness applications handed by Congress.
“These which have been handed by Congress? Sure, that is the regulation,” McMahon stated.
Committee Chair Invoice Cassidy, R-La., stated McMahon’s expertise overseeing the Small Enterprise Administration “can be an amazing asset because the division seems to reform a really damaged scholar mortgage program.”
Throughout the listening to, McMahon additionally voiced assist for extra skill-based studying and twin enrollment in Okay-12. “I feel we now have to take a look at schooling and say our vocational and skill-based coaching just isn’t a default schooling,” McMahon stated.
Closing the Schooling Division
A number of Democratic lawmakers probed McMahon about Trump’s push to get rid of the Schooling Division. On Wednesday, Trump referred to the division as a “massive con job” and stated he needed the company closed instantly.
“The president has given a really clear directive that he wish to look in totality on the Division of Schooling, and believes that the paperwork of it must be closed, that we should always return schooling to our states, that one of the best schooling is that closest to the children,” McMahon stated.
She acknowledged that solely Congress has the facility to close down the company. And McMahon famous that applications established by federal statute would wish to proceed with or with out an Schooling Division.
However she stated she was open to exploring whether or not the Schooling Division’s civil rights investigation arm may transfer to the U.S. Division of Justice and whether or not IDEA obligations may shift to the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies.
When talking of IDEA, McMahon stated, “I am undecided that it is not higher served in HHS, however I do not know.” She stated that if she’s confirmed, she would make it a excessive precedence to make sure funds for college kids with disabilities are usually not impacted.
“It’s extremely essential that these applications proceed to be funded,” she stated.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., stated “To be clear right here, you are going to put particular schooling within the palms of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,” referring to the newly named HHS secretary who has refused to say vaccines do not trigger autism.
Title IX protections
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., requested McMahon if she would assist language within the regulation for Title IX — a federal intercourse discrimination regulation — that claims colleges should handle sexual harassment that’s both “extreme or pervasive.” Presently, Title IX regulation says sexual harassment that’s “extreme and pervasive” is prohibited, which is a better threshold for investigations.
“I do not imagine there must be any acceptance of sexual harassment, senator,” McMahon stated.
Baldwin replied, “I hope that you’ll take your place and press for that to be the regulation.”
Baldwin additionally raised considerations about McMahon’s assist for sexual assault victims, because the nominee is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by former World Wrestling Leisure workers alleging sexual harassment and abuse.
“If confirmed, you’ll be accountable with overseeing the Division of Schooling Workplace of Civil Rights, charged with guaranteeing equal entry to schooling by means of vigorous enforcement of civil rights legal guidelines,” Baldwin stated. “I’m so involved about whether or not sexual assault survivors on campus can belief you to assist them.”
McMahon replied, “They definitely can belief me to assist them.”
All through the listening to, McMahon stated the Schooling Division would shield college students from discrimination and harassment. One instance she gave was prohibiting colleges from letting transgender women and girls play on girls’s designated sport groups. She additionally stated the Schooling Division would shield the rights of fogeys “to direct the ethical schooling of their youngsters.”
Hassan stated the listening to felt like “elegant gaslighting” due to McMahon’s ambitions for the Schooling Division, which is being threatened with closure by President Trump.
“The entire listening to proper now feels sort of surreal to me,” Hassan stated.
