New York, NY; February 19, 2025—On Thursday, February 13, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held its confirmation hearing with President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Education Linda McMahon. Ms. McMahon also served in the first Trump Administration, successfully leading the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019. An experienced businesswoman, McMahon is well known for her role as co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, or “WWE,” with her husband, Vince McMahon. President Trump and many conservatives continue to call for reform of—if not the elimination of—the Education Department, which Congress created only in 1980. “Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job,” said President Trump when he announced this appointment.
“Business Titan Linda McMahon was extremely impressive during her confirmation hearing last Thursday—composed, amiable and reasonable, even with some hostile questioning and repeated interruptions by hecklers,” said Teresa R. Manning. “She’s both wise and tough and seems to be just what America needs to lead education reform.”
McMahon has a record of giving back to education as a donor to East Carolina University and also Sacred Heart University, both in North Carolina. She and her husband also support Virginia’s Fishborne Military Institute, his alma mater. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell appointed McMahon to the Connecticut Board of Education in 2009 and McMahon also served on the Board of Trustees for Sacred Heart University for 14 years.
Manning continued: “America’s education system is failing: Fully one-third of eighth graders are functionally illiterate and surveys show college graduates lose knowledge during their undergraduate years. They’re unprepared for the workforce and also for citizenship. Many now also lobby for cancellation of their student loan debt, which points also to their financial illiteracy.”
“This must stop,” Manning concluded. “And it looks like Linda McMahon can put a stop to this ‘business as usual’ operation, with its record of mediocrity and underachievement, as detailed in the new report by the National Association of Scholars, Wasteland: The Education Department’s Profligacy, Mediocrity and Radicalism.”
“I look forward to her confirmation.”
NAS is a network of scholars and citizens united by a commitment to academic freedom, disinterested scholarship, and excellence in American higher education. Membership in NAS is open to all who share a commitment to these broad principles. NAS publishes a journal and has state and regional affiliates. Visit NAS at www.nas.org.
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Photo by Gage Skidmore on Flickr // CC by SA-2.0
