President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will nominate Linda McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul and small business champion with little experience in schools, to be secretary of education.
The nomination of Mr. McMahon, a major Republican donor, surprised many education experts. Sources said she was not on the Trump transition team’s shortlist for education secretary, and that influential opponents of diversity and equity programs, including the education secretaries of Oklahoma and Louisiana, Many people expected him to be selected for the job.
In his announcement, Trump touted McMahon’s “decades of leadership experience,” including allowing children to attend public and private schools using taxpayer-funded vouchers. McMahon said he will work for what he calls parental rights. He also said he would spearhead an effort to “bring education back to America,” perhaps referring to his previous pledge to dismantle the federal Department of Education.
“Linda is a passionate advocate for the rights of parents to give their children the opportunity to receive a great education, regardless of their zip code or income,” Trump said in a statement. “As Secretary of Education, Linda will continue to work tirelessly to expand choice to every state in America and empower parents to make the best education decisions for their families.”
Reaction to Mr. McMahon was swift and divided. Mr. McMahon had sought the job of Commerce Secretary, but is said to have lost out to Wall Street investor Howard Lutnick.
She will spearhead the Trump administration’s education policy that could reshape federal financial aid, federal research funding and civil rights for LGBTQ+ people and those accused of sexual assault. President Trump is also expected to scale back President Biden’s student loan forgiveness efforts.
Other areas that may come under scrutiny include job protections for teachers in K-12 schools and Head Start preschools.
In Sacramento, Gov. Gavin Newsom told the Times he knew little about McMahon other than his background as a wealthy Trump donor who comes from a family of entertainers.
“I have no idea what her educational qualifications are, and I have never heard her speak of a vision that would give me confidence that this was anything other than a payback for political support. “I’ve never had one,” he said.
Sean Harper, a professor of education, public policy and business at the University of Southern California, slammed the nomination. “America’s schoolchildren and college students deserve a Secretary of Education who brings deep educational experience to the role,” he said. “Instead, they brought in a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive. This is an embarrassment and a slap in the face to our nation’s talented educators.”
Some praised Trump’s choice.
Madison Miner, the Orange County chairwoman of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group that opposes curriculum on LGBTQ+ rights, race and ethnicity, called McMahon “a great choice.”
“She is a champion of parental rights and child protection,” Miner said. “She will make a huge difference to our education sector. … I want all parents to have rights over their children.”
Chino Valley Unified School District Board President Sonya Shaw, who has become a national figure among conservative parents and school leaders, said McMahon’s appointment appears to be a strategic move.
“She has proven her ability to manage money and run a business, and now she has the opportunity to put the funds back where they belong: into the classroom, with an emphasis on basics like reading, writing and arithmetic. I’m getting it,” Shaw said. “Instead of giving students the skills they need to succeed, resources have been wasted on bureaucracy and, too often, indoctrination.”
Others expressed more cautious opinions about her choices.
Michael Petrilli, president of the right-wing think tank the Thomas B. He said that shows Trump’s “low priorities.” A place related to education.
Jason Altmaier, president of the College of Career Education, which represents 1,300 for-profit campuses across North America, said McMahon would lead the faculty to be “more reasonable and thoughtful in addressing many of the overreaching punitive regulations.” “We will take an approach,” he said, optimistically. The Biden administration has launched one that specifically targets private career schools. ”
Rick Hess, an education expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, who doesn’t know McMahon well, also cautioned against making hasty decisions.
“Those who reflexively seek celebration or condemnation should look elsewhere,” he says. Referring to current and former education secretaries, he said, “Given the stunning performance of ‘outsider’ Betsy DeVos and the profound incompetence of veteran school administrator Miguel Cardona, I believe that based on the biography… “I would like to avoid any wild speculation,” he added. DeVos served as education secretary in the Trump administration, a position currently held by Cardona.
Mr. McMahon served two years on the Connecticut State Board of Education and also served on the board of directors of Sacred Heart University, a Catholic school in Connecticut. McMahon, who was born a Baptist and converted to Catholicism, has extensive business experience, including serving as CEO and president of World Wrestling Entertainment for many years.
Her husband Vince founded the company and it became a household name as televised commercial wrestling exploded in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Mr. McMahon also ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate twice, losing to Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and Christopher S. Murphy in 2012.
Trump nominated McMahon to lead the Small Business Administration during his first term. Unlike many of her appointees, she left office on good terms with President Trump when she left office in 2019, and later became director of the America First Policy Institute, a policy think tank with ties to Trump.
Although McMahon’s views on many hot-button education issues are less well-known, the institute’s website lists topics such as “school choice,” parental approval of curriculum, fundamental skills, and “American “teaching the truth about the history of the world” is a priority.
The site said of the curriculum, “Today’s controversial debates over using classrooms for political activism rather than teaching a complete and accurate account of American history have led to increased pressure on parents and parents to participate in the curriculum approval process. “There are renewed calls for increased public involvement.”
The website says of the history curriculum, “Racist policies, theories, and false teachings of America’s founding indoctrinate America’s youth with anti-American ideology instead of teaching rigorous subject matter and preparing them for engaged citizenship.” “I am here,” he said. This section directly targets the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which connects the founding of the United States to a history of slavery and racism.
The institute also notes that “many high school graduates leave school without knowing how to budget, balance a checkbook, read a bank statement, or create a savings plan.” .
If McMahon were to work with the America First Policy Institute and related super PACs, “abolition of DEI and accreditation reform, along with promoting vocational education, appear to be at the top of her list.” ” said John Aubrey Douglas, McMahon’s senior fellow and research professor. in public policy and higher education at the Center for Higher Education Research at the University of California, Berkeley.
The big question is whether Trump will direct McMahon to advance his desire to weaken or abolish the Department of Education, which would require an act from Congress.
Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, said Trump administration officials who try to do so should “be prepared for tremendous resistance because the public supports public education in general and public education in rural areas in particular.” ” he warned.
Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said he looks forward to working with Mr. McMahon.
“Higher education 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 is what we will be working on with Secretary McMahon and his team in the coming months. These are just some of the common priorities we are looking forward to at the Department of Education. ”
David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, said the nation’s public schools are facing a critical moment and calls for safe and stable learning environments, increased pay for teachers, and more support for students with special needs. He said more funding was needed.
“We need a secretary of education who understands these issues and works with educators to secure more resources for our public schools and protect our public education institutions,” he said. “Our students and community deserve nothing less.”
