Senate debates Education Department’s future

President Donald Trump has said he wants the education secretary to work herself out of a job. During her confirmation hearing for the post on Thursday, Linda McMahon walked the line between convincing senators to confirm her to the role and backing up the view that the Education Department itself is unnecessary.

“This whole hearing right now feels surreal to me,” committee member Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said during her questioning time. “It’s almost like we’re being subjected to a very elegant gaslighting here. You talked about the need to enforce protections for Jewish students on college campuses, but the very department where the enforcement would take place is the Department of Education, and you say you will work to eliminate that.”

If confirmed as education secretary, McMahon said, she would cut red tape and let each state determine its own education policy. She also floated ideas to increase vocational training. During the first Trump administration, McMahon helmed the Small Business Administration. Then, she was the chairwoman of the board of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank. Most recently, McMahon co-chaired the Trump transition team.

McMahon has never been a teacher, nor does she have degrees in education. She was on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year and has been a trustee at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., for 16 years. She and her husband own World Wrestling Entertainment, which has been mired in sexual abuse allegations.

But McMahon’s past credentials were barely raised during the hearing, which was instead focused on the Trump administration’s plans to cut the Education Department.

“I’d like it to be closed immediately. Look at the Department of Education. It’s a big con job,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday. He cited a report that found the United States ranked No. 40 among the world’s nations for education outcomes. “But we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil.”

It is not clear which report Trump was referring to. According to the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, federal funding accounted for about 11% of elementary and secondary public school funding in the 2020-21 school year. State and local funding made up the rest. While there is no definitive worldwide education ranking, the United States lags behind other wealthy nations in global standardized math scores and ahead in science scores. The Nation’s Report Card, compiled by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, has found more students fall below basic reading levels for their grades. As of a 2023 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) study, roughly 54% of American adults are deficient in basic literacy.

“You’re tasked with bringing it back,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told McMahon during the hearing. “There is no bigger disappointment than our education system. We’ve got to get back to teaching kids to read.”

During the hearing, Republicans talked around the likely closure of the Education Department, which was created in 1980 to help fund programs for local schools. According to federal law, the department may not interfere with school curriculums and programming even though it provides taxpayer dollars. But Republicans say the department still intrudes on states’ rights.

“We need a change agent at the Department of Education,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said while introducing McMahon.

McMahon suggested dramatic downsizing for the agency and said essential programs would simply move to other departments. In recent years, appropriations for the DOE have climbed. President Trump’s 2018 budget granted $70 billion in discretionary funds. For the past two years, Congress has appropriated nearly $80 billion to the Education Department. Senators specifically highlighted the government’s role in funding programs for students with disabilities.

McMahon promised senators that any changes to the department, or even its abolition, would involve an act of Congress. By law, only Congress may create or remove federal departments. The Trump administration has nearly fully terminated the United States Agency for International Development and relocated it within the State Department without congressional approval. The action has sparked a series of lawsuits. McMahon said any changes to the Education Department would look different.

“It is not the president’s goal to defund the programs, but only to have it operate more efficiently,” McMahon said during the hearing. In an answer to a later question from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., she said, “It is set up by the U.S. Congress, and we work with Congress. It clearly cannot be shut down without it.”

Earlier this week, staffers with the Department of Government Efficiency led by billionaire Elon Musk accessed internal Education Department systems. Yesterday, Musk posted that he ordered the Education Department to terminate 89 research contracts with the Institute of Education Sciences, amounting to roughly $881 million. DOGE also canceled grants it said were related to diversity, equity, and inclusion totaling around $101 million.

“The American people spoke loudly in the election that they want to look at waste, fraud, and abuse in government,” McMahon answered. “DOGE is doing an audit.”

Democratic senators asked McMahon whether she would comply with DOGE or with congressional appropriations if there was a conflict.

“I will expend the dollars Congress has passed, but it is worthwhile to take a look at programs before money goes out the door,” McMahon answered.

Senators also grilled McMahon on her positions when it comes to federal funding for ethnic and racial programs as well as special needs education.

Four demonstrators were physically removed from the hearing after disrupting McMahon’s testimony. A few raised concerns about whether the Education Department, under McMahon, would continue to provide federal support for students with disabilities. In compliance with Trump’s executive order to end DEI programs in the government, Defense Department schools, including the U.S. Military Academy, removed all ethnic clubs and rescinded Black History Month programs. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked McMahon if the same standards would apply to public schools.

“DEI has been a program that’s tough,” McMahon answered. “It was put in place ostensibly for more diversity. What we’re seeing is that it’s having an opposite effect. … I want to look at these programs, the breadth of the executive order, and get back to you on that.”

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) directs the Education Department to equip schools with extra teaching and materials to accommodate students with special needs. The education secretary could change how the program operates without approval from Congress. If the department is eliminated, IDEA still places the burden on the government to assist schools. McMahon recommended moving it to another department, such as Health and Human Services. But she added she needs to research more about the act.

“It may rest better in an agency with more oversight,” McMahon said. “I want to take bureaucracy out of education and actually teach children.”

That answer did not satisfy Democratic senators. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., whose son has cerebral palsy, said that IDEA only covers 15% of the education costs per special needs student. The original act directed the government to foot 40% of the bill per person.

“The reason the Education Department came about was because of people like my son,” Hassan said. “State and local schools didn’t educate special needs kids. They were institutionalized and abused. Educating these kids can be really hard, and it takes a national commitment to get it done. That's why so many people are so concerned about this proposal to eliminate the department because they think kids will once again be shoved aside, especially kids with disabilities.”

McMahon repeated that she had no intention of cutting federal funding for disability programs or even some higher education grants. She said she’d like to expand Pell Grants, which provide additional funding for college students from low-income families. She also committed to keeping public service loan forgiveness programs running.

Teachers in attendance at the meeting told WORLD they think McMahon is unfit to lead the Education Department. They also had questions about how abolishing it would work,

“This notion that putting federal funds for education under other departments and they will be well-administered is ridiculous,” Reed Scott Schwalbach, a teacher from Oregon, said. “Having another department that does not work with students, that doesn’t understand education, try to administer grants and then be able to effectively assess if those grants are being used, that is not going to be done better by another department. I think it’s really troubling.”