CV NEWS FEED // On the same evening she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced that she would lead the Department of Education (DOE) on its “final mission” and “send education back to the states.”
“My vision is aligned with the President’s: to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children,” McMahon wrote in a Monday letter addressed to DOE workers.
She emphasized that Trump had nominated her “to take the lead on one of his most momentous campaign promises to families.”
The DOE’s “role in this new era of accountability is to restore the rightful role of state oversight in education and to end the overreach from Washington,” McMahon added. “American education … ought not to be corrupted by political ideologies, special interests, and unjust discrimination. Parents, teachers, and students alike deserve better.”
“The reality of our education system is stark, and the American people have elected President Trump to make significant changes in Washington,” McMahon continued. “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 [DOE]—a momentous final mission—quickly and responsibly.”
Later in her letter, she outlined that the Trump administration has three core convictions when it comes to education. First, “Parents are the primary decision makers in their children’s education.” Second, “taxpayer-funded education” should not prioritize “DEI programs and gender ideology.” Third, colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education should foster “a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs.”
>> LAST MONTH: McMAHON SAYS THE DOE IS ‘NOT WORKING’ <<
“I hope each of you will embrace this vision going forward and use these convictions as a guide for conscientious and pragmatic action,” the McMahon wrote. “The elimination of bureaucracy should free us, not limit us, in our pursuit of these goals.”
FOX News reported that McMahon and the rest of the Trump administration “would need congressional approval in order to eliminate the federal department.”
Trump has stated on multiple occasions that he eventually plans to shut down the DOE during his second term – implying that he intends for McMahon to be its last leader.
Last month, Trump said that he had personally told McMahon, “I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job. … I want the states to run schools, and I want Linda to put herself out of a job.”
>> NOV. 2024: TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO SHUT DOWN DOE <<
The Senate confirmed McMahon Monday in a 51-45 vote that fell along party lines. All voting Republican senators supported her confirmation, while all voting Democrats opposed it. Two Democrats and two Republicans did not vote.
A convert to Catholicism, McMahon “is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in Trump’s first administration,” CatholicVote previously reported. “She also served on the Connecticut State Board of Education.”
At her Senate confirmation hearing last month, McMahon stated that the DOE “was set up in 1980, and since that time, we have spent almost a trillion dollars and we have watched our performance scores continue to go down.”
“It’s not working,” she said.