Linda McMahon Confirmed As Education Secretary

The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Linda McMahon as the Secretary of Education on Monday evening, setting in motion the full force of the Trump administration’s plans to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and radical gender ideology in schools, as well as empower states and localities to make their own education decisions.

McMahon, who previously led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, was confirmed 51-45. The vote followed testimony where McMahon signposted goals of the Trump administration to significantly reduce the bureaucratic control of education from a federal level and rework federal education dollars into a system that allows states and localities to make decisions. The Trump administration has made clear that the goal is not to reduce federal education dollars, but to administer them through mechanisms like block grants, which give distribution authority to states.

“[President Trump] pledged to make American education the best in the world, return education to the states where it belongs, and free American students from the education bureaucracy through school choice,” she said at her confirmation hearing last month. “Education is the issue that determines our national success and prepares American workers to win the future.”

She indicated that the “remedy” to “excessive consolidation of power” in the federal education system involves “fund[ing] education freedom, not government-run systems,” “listen[ing] to parents, not politicians,” “build[ing] up careers, not college debt,” “empower[ing] states, not special interests,” and “invest[ing] in teachers, not Washington bureaucrats.”

The Department of Education under the Trump administration has already been fast at work issuing major reforms, cutting wasteful spending, and eliminating the proliferation of harmful ideologies like DEI, critical race theory, and radical gender theory.

Just last month, the Department of Education launched a civil rights investigation into the entire state of Maine for attempting to bypass compliance with Title IX and guidance from the Trump administration telling them to stop allowing boys in girls’ sports. The investigation came after Democrat Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, attempted to act tough at the White House, indicating her state would not comply.

Aside from the sports, numerous Maine school districts require administrators and other staff to hide serious student medical and social information from parents, like whether their children claim to identify as transgender, as The Federalist reported.

The Department of Education has also launched civil rights investigations into five Virginia school districts that still allow boys to use girls’ facilities like restrooms and locker rooms, as a likely violation of civil rights law.

The Trump administration also warned school districts and colleges across the country that if they did not get rid of discriminatory systems like DEI, they would be at risk of losing federal funding. The School Superintendents Association balked, telling school districts to ignore the guidance. But on top of vowing to go after schools that do not comply with the law, the Trump administration just last week announced the “End DEI” portal — a tool for parents, students, and teachers to blow the whistle on their schools or school districts.

While the department has already slashed millions in far-left contracts and trainings, there is more to be done at the department, and having Senate-confirmed leadership in McMahon is likely to streamline that process.