Trump's pick for education secretary: 4 things to know, reaction

(TNND) — President-elect Donald Trump has tapped a former wrestling executive to lead the federal Department of Education, which he wants to close.

Linda McMahon is the co-founder and former chief executive officer of WWE. She’s a former administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. And she serves as co-chair of Trump’s transition team.

Here are four things to know about McMahon and how her pick might impact our nation’s schools.

Limited education experience

McMahon is a graduate of East Carolina University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in French and her teaching certification.

But she didn’t work as a teacher.

McMahon served two years on the Connecticut State Board of Education.

And she was a trustee for 16 years at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.

In announcing the pick Tuesday, Trump called McMahon a “fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights” who has worked on behalf of school choice.

Kevin Welner, the director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said Wednesday that McMahon’s education-related resume is “pretty skimpy.”

“I think she's objectively unqualified,” he said.

The president of the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the country, was also critical of the pick.

NEA President Becky Pringle said in a statement, “Our students and our nation deserve so much better ...”

The American Federation of Teachers president said in a news release that she expects her group will disagree with McMahon on many issues, though their “devotion to kids requires us to work together on policies that can improve the lives of students, their families, their educators and their communities.”

The role of education secretary requires Senate confirmation.

Trump supporter

McMahon serves as co-chair of Trump’s transition team.

She’s reportedly a major GOP donor.

McMahon chaired America First Action, a super PAC that backed Trump’s reelection campaign in 2020, according to The Associated Press.

And she’s the chair of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.

Welner recognized McMahon’s successes in building a massive entertainment company, WWE, but he believes Trump is awarding the education secretary job to her mostly because of her loyalty to him.

“I think her main qualification, which I think is also the main qualification for the other secretarial choices, is that she has been fiercely loyal to Donald Trump,” Welner said.

WWE, SBA and Senate runs

McMahon, 76, is married to Vince McMahon, the former chairman and CEO of WWE.

Linda McMahon helped grow WWE from a 13-person regional operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees in offices worldwide, according to her SBA bio.

McMahon also served as the SBA administrator during Trump’s first stint in the White House, so she has cabinet-level experience.

In that role, McMahon advocated on behalf of the 30 million small businesses in America.

McMahon ran in 2010 and 2012 for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut but lost both times.

Current Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy defeated McMahon in the 2012 election.

Connecticut’s other current senator, Richard Blumenthal, beat McMahon in her first run.

Vision for education

“I don't know her or very much about her, which I think puts me in pretty good and large company,” said Michael Feuer, a dean and education policy professor at the George Washington University. “I have to assume that he chose her with the intent that she will try her best to implement (Trump’s) vision for education and for the Department of Education.”

Trump has said he wants to shutter the U.S. Department of Education and send “all education and education work and needs” to the states.

“The United States spends more money on education than any other country in the world, and yet we get the worst outcomes,” he said in a video last year.

What do the statistics say about the achievement of American students compared to students around the world?

The National Center for Education Statistics said that as of 2022, there were five education systems with higher average reading literacy scores for 15-year-olds than the U.S., 25 with higher mathematics literacy scores, and nine with higher science literacy scores.

U.S. News placed the U.S. No. 1 in its education rankings and 12th in its list of “most well-developed public education systems.”

Welner said closing the U.S. Department of Education would require congressional action, and he said it’s unlikely that such a bill would get through Congress.

But closing the Department of Education would not terminate the programs and work being done by the department.

The U.S. Department of Education was created in 1979 with programs that mostly already existed, Welner said.

Eliminating the department would probably just force federal workers in other departments, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, to take on those programs.

Feuer said the department is responsible for programs that affect easily between 50 and 60 million people.

He said ending the programs that now fall under the purview of the Education Department would require long and arduous debates in Congress.

Both men said Trump isn’t the first Republican president to express the desire to close the Department of Education. They said Ronald Reagan wanted to do just that roughly 45 years ago.

Welner said the federal government funds about 10% of the educational costs across the country.

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The federal Education Department provides support for the education of students with disabilities, provides assistance and funding for schools serving students from low-income families, enforces federal civil rights laws in schools, and provides grant, loan and work-study assistance to millions of college students.

“It's an important job, and kids across the country depend on the work being done in the department,” Welner said of the education secretary role.

Welner said Trump’s calls for eliminating the Education Department are done largely for symbolic reasons and “a quick applause line.”

Feuer said closing the department would be “unfortunate” “both practically and symbolically.”

“And for those of us who believe that education is fundamentally a public good ... (it) sends a very sad message to the American people,” Feuer said.