President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will nominate Linda McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul and small business champion with minimal school experience, to be secretary of education.
The nomination of McMahon, a major Republican donor, took many education experts by surprise. She was not on the Trump transition team's short list of Education secretary candidates, an informed source said, and many expected leading opponents of diversity and equity programs to be tapped for the job, including state superintendents of Oklahoma and Louisiana.
Trump, in his announcement, highlighted McMahon's “decades of leadership experience” and said he would work for what he called parental rights, including the ability to use taxpayer-funded vouchers to allow children to attend any school. , public or private. She also said she would lead efforts to “send education BACK TO THE STATES,” possibly alluding to past promises to dismantle the federal Department of Education.
“Linda has been a strong advocate for parental rights…giving children the opportunity to receive an excellent education, regardless of zip code or income,” Trump said in a statement. “As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand 'Choice' to every state in America and empower parents to make the best educational decisions for their families.”
Reaction was swift – and divided – around McMahon, who was said to have wanted the Commerce Secretary job but lost it to Wall Street investor Howard Lutnick.
She will lead the Trump administration's education policies, which could reshape federal financial aid, federal research funding and civil rights for LGBTQ+ people and those accused of sexual assault. Trump is also expected to roll back President Biden's student loan forgiveness efforts.
Other areas of potential scrutiny are job protections for teachers in K-12 schools and Head Start preschools.
In Sacramento, Gov. Gavin Newsom told the Times that he knew little about McMahon other than her background as a wealthy Trump donor who comes from a family of entertainers.
“I have no idea about her qualifications in education and I haven't heard her enunciate a vision that gives me much confidence that it is anything other than revenge for political support,” he said.
Shaun Harper, a professor of education, public policy and business at USC, criticized the nomination. “America's schoolchildren and college students deserved a Secretary of Education who brought deep educational experience to his position,” he said. “Instead, they got a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive. “This is shameful and a slap in the face to our nation’s talented educators.”
Others praised Trump's election.
Madison Miner, Orange County president of Moms for Liberty, a conservative organization that opposes LGBTQ+ rights, race and ethnicity curricula, called McMahon a “wonderful choice.”
“She is an advocate for parental rights and child protection,” Miner said. “She will make a big difference in our education department. … I would love for all parents to have rights over their children.”
Chino Valley Unified School District board president Sonja Shaw, who has become a national figure among conservative parents and school leaders, said McMahon's appointment seems like a strategic move.
“You have demonstrated your ability to manage money and run a business, and now you have the opportunity to redirect funds where they really belong: back into the classrooms, focusing on fundamentals like reading, writing and math,” Shaw said. “Resources have been wasted on bureaucracy and, too often, on indoctrination instead of equipping students with the skills they need to succeed.”
Some expressed more cautious opinions about his selection.
Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a right-wing think tank, praised McMahon's executive experience but said giving him the education portfolio as a “consolation prize” for losing the Commerce job demonstrated the “low priority” of Trump. places in education.
Jason Altmire, president of Career Education Colleges and Universities, which represents 1,300 for-profit campuses across North America, said he was optimistic that McMahon would lead the department to take a “more reasoned and thoughtful approach in addressing many of the “punitive and overreaching regulations.” introduced by the Biden administration, especially those aimed at private professional schools.”
Rick Hess, an education expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he was also unfamiliar with McMahon, but cautioned against snap judgments.
“Those looking for thoughtful celebration or condemnation should look elsewhere,” he said. Referring to current and former Education secretaries, he added: “After the admirable performance of 'outsider' Betsy DeVos and the profound ineptitude of veteran school administrator Miguel Cardona, I would avoid crude assumptions based on biographies.” DeVos was Secretary of Education in the Trump's first administration and Cardona is currently in office.
McMahon served for two years on the Connecticut Board of Education and has been a member of the board of Sacred Heart University, a Catholic school in Connecticut. Born a Baptist and a convert to Catholicism, McMahon has significantly more experience in business, including serving as CEO and president of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.
Her husband, Vince, founded the company and was a household name when televised commercial wrestling gained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. McMahon also ran twice unsuccessfully for the United States Senate, losing to Democrats. of Connecticut Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and before Christopher S. Murphy in 2012.
During his first term, Trump tapped McMahon to lead the Small Business Administration. When she resigned in 2019, she did so on good terms with Trump, unlike many appointees, and later became president of the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-related policy think tank.
While McMahon's views on many hot-button education issues are not widely known, the institute's website focuses its priorities on “school choice,” parental approval of the curriculum, basic skills, and “teach the truth about American history.”
“Controversial current debates about using classrooms for political activism rather than teaching a complete and accurate account of American history have revitalized calls for greater parental and citizen involvement in the plan approval process. studies,” the site says about the curriculum.
Regarding the history curriculum, the website says: “The racially divisive policies, theories and false teachings of the American founding are indoctrinating young Americans with anti-American ideology rather than preparing them for engaged citizenship by teaching rigorous subjects.” The section goes directly to the New York Times' 1619 Project, which links the founding of the United States to its history of slavery and racism.
The institute also notes: “Many high school graduates leave school without knowing how to create a budget, balance a checkbook, read bank statements, or plan their savings.”
If McMahon aligns himself with the America First Policy Institute and related super PAC, “it appears that ending DEI and accreditation reform are at the top of his list, along with promoting vocational education,” said John Aubrey Douglass, senior fellow and research professor of public policy and higher education at UC Berkeley's Center for Higher Education Studies.
An important question is whether Trump will order McMahon to move forward with his desire to weaken (or eliminate) the Department of Education, which would require an act of Congress.
Pedro Noguera, dean of USC's Rossier School of Education, warned that Trump officials taking steps to do so “should prepare for a lot of resistance, because the public generally supports public education, especially in rural areas.”
Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said he looked forward to working with McMahon.
“Higher education and our colleges and universities work hard every day to build America and improve lives,” he said in a statement. “Ensuring college access and affordability, supporting student success, and advancing cutting-edge research that saves lives and protects our national security are just a few of the common priorities we look forward to working on in the coming months with Secretary-designate McMahon and his team. in the Department of Education.
David Goldberg, California Teachers Association. president, said the nation's public schools face a critical moment: They need more funding for safe and stable learning environments, higher salaries for teachers and more support for students with special needs.
“We need a Secretary of Education who understands these issues and will work together with educators to secure more resources for public schools and protect the institution of public education,” he said. “Our students and communities deserve nothing less.”
