The Senate voted along the party's line on Monday to confirm that Linda McMahon is the country's next education secretary, and as a former professional wrestling executive in charge of the institutions the Trump administration wants to eliminate.
McMahon, a wealthy Republican donor who served in the first Trump administration, has little education experience. That lack of direct knowledge has been framed as an obvious lack of critics by the White House, which is seeking to abolish the divisions she is currently leading.
McMahon, 76, told lawmakers during the confirmation process that she “heart-followedly” agreed to President Trump's “mission” to remove the education sector. At a hearing last month, she insisted that most Americans do so, and are ready to do so.
However, there appears to be important opposition to removing the department.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans said last week they opposed elimination of the institution, according to a NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. In North Carolina, one of the seven battlefields Trump took over in November was a similar share, with 63%, according to a Meredith University poll last month.
The education sector has already been the main goal of an offensive government overhaul project overseen by Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest person and leading Trump adviser. At least 60 employees have been suspended as part of the administration's removal of diversity efforts, and Musk's team is debating the possibility of an executive order that effectively shuts down the department.
On Friday, department employees were given a “one-time offer” of up to $25,000 if they agreed to resign or resign by the end of the day on Monday. A message sent by department chief executive Jacqueline Clay said the offer was made before “the power was reduced very significantly.”
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent Sen., who has conspired with Democrats and is the top leader of the Senate Education Committee, said the department will provide “very important resources” to poor school districts and children with disabilities.
“We need to make the Department of Education stronger and more efficient so that we don't dismantle it like Trump proposed,” Sanders said in a statement.
Of the first 20 Trump nominations confirmed by the Senate, McMahon is the sixth McMahon unanimously opposed. The other was Pete Hegses, Secretary of Defense. Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health. Russell T. Vert, White House budget director. Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce.
The main role of the education sector is to send federal funds to public schools, manage university financial aid, and manage federal student loans. The department tracks student achievement, but does not direct what is taught in public schools. As of September, there were around 4,200 employees, so the agency's workforce was the smallest of the 15 Cabinet-level enforcement divisions.
McMahon said that by promoting school selection programs, he will seek more local control of education programs and promote “freeing American students from education bureaucrats.”
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican school board chair, said McMahon will help streamline the department.
“We need strong leaders in our department to get our education system back on track,” Cassidy said after the confirmation slip. “Commander McMahon is the right person for the job.”
McMahon received his education certificate, but she never taught him. She is a member of the board of directors at Sacred Heart University, a private Connecticut school with around 8,500 students for about 16 years. She and her husband Vince McMahon have donated millions to Catholic universities, where she is separated.
She also served on the Connecticut State Board of Education for about a year, but some state lawmakers questioned her experience with the position and said she runs a wrestling company that promotes violent and sexual imagery to children.
Critics said she wasn't prepared to navigate the impact of Trump's politically charged agenda on schools in the country, so her appointment to run the education sector has sparked new concerns about her experience.
Trump told reporters last month that the education sector was “a big fraud job” and “want to close it down soon.” Musk said the administration has terminated 89 contracts worth $881 million at the agency.
At her confirmation hearing, McMahon presented a more subtle version of the potential change. She said the government planned to “reorient” the department and allowed some of the agency's biggest programs to be maintained. She also said core programs such as Title I Money for low-income schools and Pell Grants for the poorest university students would not be ruled out.
She also agreed that Congressional acts were necessary to abolish the department created in 1979 to ensure equal access to education.
The likely cuts were federal funding for schools and universities that violated Trump's orders to ban transgender women from competing in women's sports and abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Responding to questions from Connecticut Democrat Sen. Christopher S. Murphy last week, McMahon said schools should allow events to celebrate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but said they were more cautious about ranks focused on black history.
“I'm not sure. I'd like to look into it more,” McMahon said.
During Trump's first term, McMahon served as head of small business management until 2019 when he resigned to run a super PAC supporting Trump. America's first action Super PAC spent more than $185 million than Trump's loss in 2020.
During the 2024 election, McMahon was one of the biggest contributors to Trump's campaign. She and her husband have donated more than $20 million to Trump's reelection campaign and associated PACs, according to data compiled by Open Secrets, a government transparency group.
After Trump was in office in 2020, McMahon became chairman of the American First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank with strong staffing by former Trump officials. She also took on roles with other conservative policy agencies and Daily Caller, a conservative news site.
She is paid $18,400 every three months and is director of Trump Media and Technology Group. She has received thousands of shares in the company as compensation for her work. The group is the parent company of Truth Social, Trump's social media platform.
McMahon has resigned from these positions and vowed to sell from Trump's business if confirmed.
