WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) — Education secretary nominee Linda McMahon was probed by U.S. senators Thursday about President Donald Trump’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education.
Though Trump tapped the wealthy donor and former World Wrestling Entertainment executive to lead the 45-year-old department, the president said he wants McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”
In his quest to move education “back to the states,” Trump could soon issue an executive order that diminishes the agency.
The president has made that pledge even though much of the funding and oversight of schools occurs at the state and local levels. The federal government in general has little say in the curriculum of schools across the country.
Trump alone does not have the authority to close the department, which would require congressional approval.
Any action would also call into question how and where department programs would be administered when enforcing civil rights cases, issuing federal student aid, providing Title I funds to low-income school districts, and guaranteeing a free public education for children with disabilities via the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, or IDEA.
McMahon’s vision
McMahon clarified in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that, if confirmed, she would work with Congress “to reorient the department toward helping educators, not controlling them.”
She also said, “Title I programs … will continue to be appropriated through Congress,” and she is “not looking to defund or reduce any of those amounts.”
“IDEA is the same, but might it be better served in a different agency? I’m not sure.”
McMahon said she wants to see the continuation and expansion of Pell Grants, which the department handles for college students who demonstrate financial need.
“I’d like to see short-term certificates for Pell Grants for students who aren’t going on to four-year universities, who could have the opportunity to use Pell Grants for skill-based learning,” she added.
Protest erupts
Several education groups and labor union leaders have strongly opposed her nomination.
Law enforcement also had to escort a handful of protesters out of Thursday’s hearing.
Despite this backlash, McMahon is likely to be confirmed in the GOP-controlled Senate.
“The whole hearing right now feels kind of surreal to me — it’s almost like we’re being subjected to a very elegant gaslighting here,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, referring to a term for manipulation that denies or distorts the truth to make someone doubt their own opinions.
“I think everybody on this committee wants to see us go after waste and bureaucracy in every agency of government, but what we must understand is that when we talk about the Department of Education, they are providing vital resources for 26 million children in this country who live in high-poverty school districts,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the panel.
The department “provides Pell Grants and other important financial assistance that over 7 million low-income students need to get a higher education,” the Vermont Democrat said.
He added that “the goal is not to abolish the Department of Education — it is to make it more effective and to make sure that it addresses the educational needs in this country.”
‘Change agent’
McMahon was on the Connecticut Board of Education for just over a year and a member of the board of trustees at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
She led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term in the White House and is chair of the board of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank loyal to Trump.
GOP Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Katie Britt of Alabama praised McMahon during their introductions of the nominee.
Britt said McMahon would be the “change agent” she thinks the department needs and is the “perfect antidote to what is wrong with education in this country.”
Trump’s education plans take shape
The president’s sweeping campaign vision to “save American education” has already burst out of the floodgates through several executive orders.
The Education Department has also been the target of the Department of Government Efficiency’s significant contract cuts.
Trump also took major steps this month to sign an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
He signed earlier executive orders prioritizing school choice funding, ending what the administration sees as “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling” and taking “additional measures to combat anti-semitism.”
