On Feb. 13, members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee grilled Trump’s pick to lead and subsequently dismantle the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, on her positions regarding school choice, students with disabilities, discrimination on the basis of sex, teacher pay, and how she wants to cut costs.
According to The 19th News, although she acknowledged that it would officially take an act of Congress to shutter the department, she nonetheless confirmed that she is willing to follow Trump’s plan for the department, which she framed to the senators as returning control of education to individual states, a position that has never actually been in jeopardy.
The Department of Education’s future has only grown more murky after the Department of Government Efficiency, the unofficial department led by Elon Musk that has been given permission by Trump to cut whatever is deemed “wasteful,” cut approximately $900 million from the department’s research arm, the Institute of Research Sciences.
DOGE also canceled 89 of the Department of Education’s contracts and 29 grants, including grants and contracts that relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion, a target of the Trump Administration.
At McMahon’s confirmation hearing, which was disrupted by protestors half a dozen times, McMahon promoted the official line of her boss regarding DEI, telling the senators, “[DEI] is a program that’s tough. It was put in place ostensibly for more diversity, for equity and inclusion. And I think what we’re seeing is, it is having an opposite effect. We are getting back to more segregating of our schools instead of having more inclusion in our schools.”
According to NPR, Chris Murphy (D-Conn) made the point that due to the anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion priorities of the Trump Administration, schools that are managed by the Department of Defense had already canceled their programming regarding Black History Month.
He also asked the prospective leader of the Department of Education if a public school would lose federal funding for allowing students to form extracurricular clubs based on race or ethnicity. Mcmahon was noncommittal.
“I certainly today don’t want to address, you know, hypothetical situations,” McMahon answered. Confirmation hearings are largely concerned with such hypothetical situations, which is why Murphy continued his line of questioning.
“That’s pretty chilling. My son is in a public school. He takes a class called African American History. If you’re running an African American history class, could you perhaps be in violation of this executive order?” Murphy asked McMahon.
Again, she dodged his question. “I’m not quite certain. And I’d like to look into it further and get back to you on that,” McMahon responded.
In an op-ed for MSNBC, Ja’han Jones argues that Linda McMahon’s background in professional wrestling—an industry long criticized for perpetuating racist and sexist stereotypes—makes her an ideal choice for Trump to push his vision for the Department of Education to an extreme. Jones suggests that McMahon would work to dismantle the department, which provides protections for historically marginalized groups, including women, ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities.
RELATED CONTENT: Trump Administration Cancels Federal Grant That Promotes Student Diversity
