The Senate will vote on Monday to decide whether to confirm Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive, as the nation’s education secretary. If confirmed, McMahon would lead the Education Department, which President Donald Trump has criticized and pledged to dismantle.
McMahon would have to balance the task of reducing the department’s role while also advancing Trump’s education policies. Trump has already signed orders aimed at removing diversity programs from schools and eliminating protections for transgender students, in addition to advocating for expanded school choice initiatives.
Trump has also expressed a desire to eventually close down the department and has told McMahon that her goal should be to “put herself out of a job.”
At 76 years old, McMahon is an unconventional choice for the role. She is a billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Although she spent a year on Connecticut’s state board of education and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University, she has limited traditional experience in education leadership.
Supporters of McMahon believe she is an experienced executive who can bring much-needed reform to the Education Department, which Republicans argue has not effectively improved American education. However, critics argue that McMahon is unqualified for the role and express concerns that her proposed budget cuts could negatively impact students across the country.
During her confirmation hearing, McMahon distanced herself from President Trump’s harsh rhetoric. She emphasized that the goal was to make the Education Department “operate more efficiently,” rather than to eliminate programs.
McMahon acknowledged that only Congress could disband the department and promised to protect funding for Title I (for low-income schools), Pell grants (for low-income college students), and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. However, she suggested that some functions of the department could be moved to other agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, which could be a better fit for enforcing disability rights laws.
In the weeks leading up to her confirmation hearing, the White House had been considering an executive order instructing the education secretary to reduce the department as much as legally possible while requesting Congress to shut it down entirely. Some of McMahon’s supporters urged the White House to delay this order until after her confirmation to avoid potential controversy.
Created by Congress in 1979, the Education Department’s main responsibility is to distribute funds to schools and colleges across the nation. It allocates billions annually to K-12 schools and manages a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio.
President Trump has criticized the department, claiming it has been overtaken by liberal ideologies that influence America’s schools.
Schools and colleges have faced pressure to eliminate diversity programs or risk losing federal funding, with a deadline set by the Trump administration for February 28 to comply. The Education Department issued clarification on its guidance, stating that merely changing names referencing “diversity” or “equity” is insufficient if the programs still treat students differently based on race.
During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged to shut down the department and transfer its authority to state governments. While schools and states already hold more power over education than the federal government, which cannot directly influence curricula, federal funding accounts for about 14% of public school budgets.
The Trump administration has already begun restructuring much of the Education Department’s operations.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has eliminated numerous contracts it deemed “woke” and wasteful. The administration has also significantly reduced the Institute of Education Sciences, which collects data on the nation’s academic progress, and has fired or suspended many employees.
Some of these cuts have interrupted work required by federal law. During her confirmation hearing, McMahon assured that the agency would only spend money allocated by Congress, downplaying the cuts by DOGE as a simple audit.
McMahon, a long-time ally of Trump, left WWE in 2009 to pursue a political career, unsuccessfully running for the U.S. Senate twice. She has donated millions to Trump’s campaigns and served as the head of the Small Business Administration during his first term.