WASHINGTON — U.S. training secretary nominee Linda McMahon informed a Senate panel Thursday that, if confirmed, she wouldn’t defund public faculties however would search to reform the U.S. Division of Training by lowering federal forms and bringing faculties again to the fundamentals of studying and math.
“We’re failing our college students, our Division of Training, and what we’re doing right this moment just isn’t working, and we have to change it,” McMahon mentioned.
Nevertheless, when requested about some particular adjustments she would make to Training Division programming, McMahon mentioned, if confirmed, she would consider division features earlier than making suggestions. She mentioned she would “reorient the division towards serving to educators, not controlling them.”
The two ½-hour affirmation listening to, held by the Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions, was briefly interrupted 5 occasions by folks protesting McMahon’s nomination. The Republican-controlled Senate is anticipated to approve McMahon’s nomination within the coming days.
McMahon’s affirmation listening to comes amid drastic adjustments on the Training Division. President Donald Trump has already issued varied government orders that severely restrict federal funding, prohibit actions associated to variety, fairness and inclusion, and name for an finish to “indoctrination” in Ok-12 faculties, which he mentioned contains “gender ideology and discriminatory fairness ideology.”
Trump can also be anticipated to challenge an government order that will considerably scale back the Training Division’s authority and accountability within the federal authorities.
In fiscal 12 months 2024, the Training Division obtained $79.1 billion from Congress. Lawmakers have but to approve FY 2025 funding.
Among the many Training Division’s duties is managing $1.6 trillion in larger training pupil loans.
A protester disrupts Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. training secretary, as she testifies throughout her Senate Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions Committee affirmation listening to on Capitol Hill on Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Kayla Bartkowski by way of Getty Photographs
Trump nominated McMahon simply weeks after successful the November election. McMahon served as administrator of the Small Enterprise Administration for 2 years in Trump’s first administration. She can also be a former president and CEO of World Wrestling Leisure.
McMahon can also be board chair at America First Coverage Institute, a nonprofit assume tank that helps free enterprise and nationalism. On the state degree, McMahon served on the Connecticut State Board of Training. She additionally served as a trustee at Sacred Coronary heart College, a personal Catholic faculty in Fairfield, Connecticut. She is at present the treasurer on the college’s Board of Trustees, in response to the college’s web site.
In 2012, she received the Connecticut Republican major for U.S. Senate however misplaced to present Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who’s a member of the HELP committee.
If the Senate approves McMahon’s nomination, she would succeed Miguel Cardona because the thirteenth U.S. training secretary because the division’s founding in 1979.
Listed here are three takeaway exchanges from the affirmation listening to.
Antisemitism on school campuses
A number of Republican senators requested McMahon about antisemitism on school campuses.
“Will you guarantee that Jewish Individuals are secure on our campuses, for heaven’s sake?” requested Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., referring to “a wave of antisemitism” significantly because the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel. “Will you guarantee that this stops on our school campuses which are getting all of this federal tax cash?”
McMahon mentioned she would “completely,” or faculties would “face defunding of their monies.”
A number of senators requested McMahon in regards to the Training Division’s accountability for the federal pupil mortgage program. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., questioned McMahon’s dedication to current public service mortgage forgiveness applications handed by Congress.
“These which were handed by Congress? Sure, that is the regulation,” McMahon mentioned.
Committee Chair Invoice Cassidy, R-La., mentioned McMahon’s expertise overseeing the Small Enterprise Administration “could be an important asset because the division seems to reform a really damaged pupil mortgage program.”
Through the listening to, McMahon additionally voiced help for extra skill-based studying and twin enrollment in Ok-12. “I believe we’ve to take a look at training and say our vocational and skill-based coaching just isn’t a default training,” McMahon mentioned.
Closing the Training Division
A number of Democratic lawmakers probed McMahon about Trump’s push to remove the Training Division. On Wednesday, Trump referred to the division as a “large con job” and mentioned he wished the company closed instantly.
“The president has given a really clear directive that he wish to look in totality on the Division of Training, and believes that the forms of it ought to be closed, that we should always return training to our states, that the perfect training is that closest to the youngsters,” McMahon mentioned.
She acknowledged that solely Congress has the facility to close down the company. And McMahon famous that applications established by federal statute would want to proceed with or with out an Training Division.
However she mentioned she was open to exploring whether or not the Training Division’s civil rights investigation arm might transfer to the U.S. Division of Justice and whether or not IDEA duties might shift to the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers.
When talking of IDEA, McMahon mentioned, “I am undecided that it isn’t higher served in HHS, however I do not know.” She mentioned that if she’s confirmed, she would make it a excessive precedence to make sure funds for college kids with disabilities usually are not impacted.
“It’s extremely vital that these applications proceed to be funded,” she mentioned.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., mentioned “To be clear right here, you are going to put particular training within the arms of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,” referring to the newly named HHS secretary who has refused to say vaccines do not trigger autism.
Title IX protections
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., requested McMahon if she would help language within the regulation for Title IX — a federal intercourse discrimination regulation — that claims faculties should deal with sexual harassment that’s both “extreme or pervasive.” Presently, Title IX regulation says sexual harassment that’s “extreme and pervasive” is prohibited, which is a better threshold for investigations.
“I do not consider there ought to be any acceptance of sexual harassment, senator,” McMahon mentioned.
Baldwin replied, “I hope that you’ll take your place and press for that to be the regulation.”
Baldwin additionally raised issues about McMahon’s help for sexual assault victims, because the nominee is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by former World Wrestling Leisure workers alleging sexual harassment and abuse.
“If confirmed, you can be accountable with overseeing the Division of Training Workplace of Civil Rights, charged with making certain equal entry to training by way of vigorous enforcement of civil rights legal guidelines,” Baldwin mentioned. “I’m so involved about whether or not sexual assault survivors on campus can belief you to help them.”
McMahon replied, “They actually can belief me to help them.”
All through the listening to, McMahon mentioned the Training Division would shield college students from discrimination and harassment. One instance she gave was prohibiting faculties from letting transgender women and girls play on ladies’s designated sport groups. She additionally mentioned the Training Division would shield the rights of oldsters “to direct the ethical training of their youngsters.”
Hassan mentioned the listening to felt like “elegant gaslighting” due to McMahon’s ambitions for the Training Division, which is being threatened with closure by President Trump.
“The entire listening to proper now feels sort of surreal to me,” Hassan mentioned.