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Linda McMahon was confirmed Monday as education secretary to lead a department that President Donald Trump has said he wants to dismantle.
McMahon, a former professional wrestling executive and billionaire donor, promised during her confirmation hearing to maintain key education funding streams near current levels and to work with Congress on any reorganization plan for the department.
Many observers expect Trump to sign an executive order soon kicking off that process, though McMahon could develop an overhaul plan without one.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Nebraska Republican, said McMahon had the appropriate background to lead the department. The secretary of education is not some kind of national schools superintendent, he said. Rather, the job involves running a federal bureaucracy, something McMahon showed she could do when she ran the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first administration.
“I have no reason to believe that she cannot run the Department of Education,” Grassley said Monday. “I think she understands the difference between the state and federal role in education. I also expect that she understands the difference between the executive and legislative branches when it comes to the serious policy making of education.”
Several Democratic senators said they opposed McMahon’s nomination because she appeared ready to put herself out of a job, at Trump’s request.
“We can talk about Linda McMahon’s qualifications, or frankly lack thereof,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, who spoke Thursday wearing a T-shirt from the public high school he attended under his suit jacket. “President Trump isn’t looking for someone with the background or the commitment to strengthen education in America. He is looking for someone to destroy it.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii, noted that during her confirmation hearing McMahon couldn’t name a single requirement in the main federal education law or say whether teaching African American history would violate the president’s executive order seeking to root out “radical indoctrination” in K-12 schools.
McMahon was confirmed in a 51-45 party line vote.
In an emailed message to department staff, which was also posted to the department website, McMahon described a “final mission” for the agency that would “profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations.”
“We must start thinking about our final mission at the department as an overhaul — a last chance to restore the culture of liberty and excellence that made American education great,“ McMahon said. ”Changing the status quo can be daunting. But every staff member of this Department should be enthusiastic about any change that will benefit students."
McMahon will be taking the helm of an Education Department that has already set a dramatically different tone on civil rights enforcement than under the previous administration.
Former President Joe Biden and former Education Secretary Miguel Cardona emphasized equity goals for students of color and immigrant children and tried to enshrine protections for transgender students in law. But under Trump the Office for Civil Rights has already opened several cases related to bathroom access and sports participation by transgender students and threatened Maine’s federal funding.
A Dear Colleague letter to school leaders from the top acting civil rights official warned school districts many common diversity practices could be discriminatory and gave them a two-week deadline to abandon them or risk losing federal funding. That guidance is being challenged in court by three groups, including the American Federation of Teachers.
The Trump administration’s approach raises questions about whether the administration will usher in a smaller role for the federal government or simply a different one. Trump has previously pledged to return control over education to the states.
Meanwhile, the U.S. DOGE Service, the cost-cutting initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk, has slashed education research contracts and grants and abruptly closed technical assistance centers that supported states in efforts to improve education. In press releases, the Education Department has linked the canceled programs to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, or said they were wasteful, but provided little information to back up those claims.
The Education Department has not answered questions about who made these decisions or why.
McMahon told senators that she would examine these cuts and might reverse some of them. A source close to McMahon told the Washington Post she was “frustrated” with Musk’s approach.
Trump taps experienced state officials at Education Department
Kendra Cornejo Muñoz, a lead youth organizer for Make the Road Action who was detained for protesting McMahon’s confirmation hearing, said the transgender and immigrant youth she works with in New York City are already terrified to go to school.
She doesn’t trust McMahon to look out for students or protect school funding, she said in an interview shortly after the hearing: “Entire communities are going to suffer.”
Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the conservative parent group Moms for Liberty, called McMahon competent, smart, and “very decisive.” Justice hopes McMahon’s business background will help her combat inefficiency in the federal bureaucracy. She’s also looking forward to the civil rights office combating diversity efforts and transgender rights.
“The Department of Education has been used to undermine our civil rights as parents, as Americans in so many different ways, and we need to right that ship,” she said.
Mike Petrilli, president of the Fordham Institute, a center-right education think tank, said he expects McMahon to be “an adult in the room” along with Penny Schwinn, a former Tennessee schools chief nominated to be deputy director, and North Dakota State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler, Trump’s nominee to lead elementary and secondary education.
While McMahon has very little education experience, Schwinn and Baesler both have extensive experience and reputations for focusing on students and rebuffing pressure from cultural conservatives.
“We have to believe that inside the Department of Education, between McMahon and the political appointees and DOGE, there will be some big fights,” Petrilli said. “We have to be rooting for McMahon and her colleagues to win.”
This story has been updated to add a statement from McMahon.
Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.
Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.
