By COLLIN BINKLEY, AP Education Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Linda McMahon once described herself as an outsider stepping into the world of education, a business leader with an “inquiring mind” who would challenge the status quo and demand more for students.
That was 15 years ago, when McMahon was beginning a stint on the Connecticut Board of Education. But her backers describe her similarly today as she seeks to become the nation’s next education chief.
She has few of the qualifications typical of the job, yet supporters see that as a strength. She has a clinical business mind and few allegiances in an industry that President Donald Trump promises to upend — starting with his vow to abolish the U.S. Education Department itself.
“Her most important qualification is her private-sector experience,” said Ed Patru, a friend and former spokesperson during her 2010 Senate campaign. “The public’s perception of what constitutes a qualified candidate has changed dramatically. Americans are more distrustful of government.”
McMahon’s nomination to lead the department throws her into a rancorous political battle.
The White House is weighing an executive order directing the education secretary to cut the agency as much as possible and urging Congress to close it entirely. Already, Trump’s appointees have put dozens of employees on paid leave and invited Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to slash spending.
Democrats in Congress are launching a counteroffensive, warning Trump has no authority to dismantle the department or its core programs, which send tens of billions of dollars a year to schools, universities and students. At McMahon’s committee confirmation hearing Thursday, Democrats are teed up to grill her on Trump’s plan and her willingness to carry it out.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he told McMahon closing the department would be a “disaster” for students nationwide. “Millions of kids rely on our public schools for their education,” he said after a meeting with the nominee.
Trump already has issued a flurry of orders demanding new action from the Education Department, including plans to repurpose federal money for school choice, aggressively investigate antisemitism on college campuses and cut federal money for schools that teach controversial lessons on race and gender.
It could present a conundrum for McMahon, who would be ordered to execute an array of new initiatives while also winding the department down.
McMahon and her husband, Vince, became famous for building the wrestling empire that would become World Wrestling Entertainment, a megabrand that made them stars and billionaires. Linda was CEO until she left in 2009 and made two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate. She later became a close ally to Trump, who put her at the helm of the Small Business Administration during his first term.
She has a thinner record on education than most previous secretaries. She spent a year on the Connecticut Board of Education in 2009 and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
On higher education, McMahon has voiced support for apprenticeships and other alternatives to traditional degrees. At the K-12 level, she has called for expanded school choice and more transparency in classroom curriculum.
There are questions about how closely McMahon’s views on some issues align with those of Trump, who has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and believes America’s schools have become overtaken by “wokeness.” In the past McMahon has called herself a fiscal conservative but a social moderate.
McMahon recently opposed proposal from former President Joe Biden’s administration that would have required diversity initiatives in apprenticeship programs. But speaking on a St. Louis radio show last March, she said some aspects of DEI are “laudable” and “we ought to make sure we do have diversity.”
McMahon did not respond to interview requests for this story.
In her past education roles, McMahon was seen as willing to learn the ins and outs of the institutions she served.
Anthony Cernera appointed McMahon to Sacred Heart’s board of trustees in 2004 when he was the school’s president. She studied for every meeting and closely monitored university finances, he said. “She knew what her job was, and she did it,” he said.
In 2009, McMahon was appointed to Connecticut’s state education board after calling the governor amid concerns that Greenwich Public Schools, the district her two children had attended, had failed to meet some federal testing benchmarks.
At her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she was astounded that a city as wealthy as Greenwich was falling behind in education. She raised alarms about widening academic achievement gaps by race and class.
“I don’t come before you today as an educator — I make no bones about that,” she told lawmakers. “I don’t have any answers, but I have an open mind.”
After attending regular meetings for about a year, she resigned for her 2010 Senate bid. Running as a self-financed Republican, McMahon was dogged by her history with pro wrestling, facing criticism for its violence, sexuality and allegations over steroid use among wrestlers.
New allegations surfaced last year when a lawsuit accused the McMahons of allowing a longtime WWE announcer to sexually abuse young “ring boys” from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Laura Brevetti, a lawyer for Linda McMahon, said the suit is baseless and “filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations, and misrepresentations.”
After losing her Senate race in 2010 and again in 2012, McMahon stayed involved in politics as a donor. A longtime friend of Trump, she gave $7 million to his 2016 campaign, plus another $30 million over his next two campaigns, according to federal records.
Along with co-chairing Trump’s transition team, McMahon is also a director of the president’s media company, which owns his Truth Social platform. If confirmed, McMahon said she will leave the board and forfeit stocks that were to be awarded to her over the next two years, according to an ethics disclosure.
At the SBA, McMahon was credited with beefing up its capacity to award loans after natural disasters. Upon her arrival, she challenged the agency to be ready for as many as three disasters in a single season — just months before the U.S. was slammed by three major hurricanes in 2017.
When she resigned in 2019, she drew bipartisan praise. Her nomination as education secretary, however, has drawn mixed responses.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, said she has doubts about McMahon’s qualifications. The agency needs someone who will “stand up for students and teachers,” she said.
McMahon faces opposition from the nation’s two major teachers unions, along with civil rights advocacy groups. Republicans have generally supported her selection, saying she understands how education can fuel the economy.
Early this year, McMahon visited Capitol Hill to meet with senators ahead of her confirmation hearing. In social media posts describing the visits, McMahon said she would “reform” the Education Department.
“I’m ready to make America’s education system great again,” she said on X. “Let’s get this done together.”
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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Source: Paradise Post
