Mrs. McMahon, What’s Your Plan for the Education Department? 

The Senate confirmations process continues apace with Linda McMahon’s floor vote expected in the near future. McMahon is likely to be confirmed as Secretary of Education—this would be her second executive branch assignment following her spell as Administrator of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. Despite the reputation as a middle of the road pick for a Party that now unabashedly champions neo-Nazis, McMahon still holds numerous worrisome education policy positions. 

In her committee hearings so far, McMahon has paired standard conservative anti-public education talking points with a feigned concern for Department programs, which are being targeted by DOGE-heads and Project 2025 authors. Still, there are questions the wrestling mogul must answer before her full senate vote.

1. President Trump’s trusted lieutenant Elon Musk has indicated that DOGE will move to dismantle the Department of Education. That puts you in the unique position of vying for a position that may be soon wholly diminished. While you noted that only an act of Congress could abolish a federal agency, there are still multiple opportunities for an agency head to allow for operations to grind to a halt. Do you plan to cooperate with Elon Musk’s mission to dismantle the Department?  

2. DOGE recently cut $900m from the Department’s Institute of Education Sciences. Do you support this decision to gut a critical research arm for monitoring our students’ success? Do you think the tracking of students’ learning progress, evaluation of successful teaching strategies and research on programs for youths with disabilities are not critical services?

3. Do you plan to follow Project 2025’s recommendation to move the office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) to the Department of Commerce? Moreover, do you believe certain offices in the Department are redundant and which other services do you plan to relocate in line with your call to cede authority to disburse Title I funds to the Department of Health and Human Services? 

4. You made a point during your hearing that you believe returning education to the states is what’s best for students. Different states have vastly different numbers of students, resources, funding priorities, and even curricula. Even though the memo from the Office of Management and Budget freezing federal grants was canceled, some state and local government budget officers are currently struggling to access funding for both higher ED and K-12 education? As Secretary of the Department of Education, do you plan to limit the federal government’s involvement and support of state and local government education programs?  

5. It was recently reported that your family foundation has spent millions of dollars on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. How do you square that with the intense lobbying work your America First Policy Institute has done at the state level?
   1. How do you plan to implement Title IX, a landmark federal civil rights law? Do you intend to follow in the steps of former Education Secretary Betsy Devos and instruct the Department to specifically exclude LGBTQ+ people from Title IX enforcement?

6. You have advocated for Charter schools, voted to expand them while serving as a member of the Connecticut Board of Education, and have pushed charter schools as an alternative to public education. However, these institutions are well recognized as money sinks, which redirect funds from public coffers to privateers. Are you concerned about the unsustainable nature of Charter School programs?