By COLLIN BINKLEY and ANNIE MA, AP Education Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Linda McMahon on Thursday sketched out how key functions of the Education Department could be carved up to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of dismantling the agency, vowing to “reorient” the department while continuing some of its largest programs.
At her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she would preserve core initiatives including Title I money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income college students, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. She said the Trump administration wants to “do this right” and she believes it would take an act of Congress to abolish the department.
“We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education,” McMahon said. But closing the department “certainly does require congressional action.”
McMahon said the president’s goal is not to defund key programs, but to have them “operate more efficiently.” But she questioned whether some programs should be moved to other agencies. Enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, she suggested, “may very well rest better” in the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency that already has oversight of disability issues. The agency’s Office for Civil Rights, she said, could fit better at the Justice Department.
Democrats repeatedly grilled McMahon on her willingness to follow orders from Trump or Elon Musk even if they run afoul of congressional mandates. The issue could come to a head as Trump looks to slash department spending, much of which is ordered by Congress. McMahon played down the work of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, calling its work nothing more than an “audit,” but she also pledged to uphold the law and show deference to Congress.
“We will certainly expend those dollars that Congress has passed,” she said at the hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
McMahon sought to reassure senators that politically popular programs were safe, yet at the same time she promised to cut federal money from schools and colleges that defy Trump’s demands, including his executive orders against transgender athletes, campus antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
In a tense exchange, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy asked McMahon to clarify the boundaries of Trump’s order banning DEI in schools. McMahon said events celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. should be allowed, but she hesitated when asked about African American history classes.
“I’m not quite certain,” she said. “I’d like to look into it further.” Murphy said her answer would “have a lot of educators and a lot of principals and administrators scrambling right now.”
Most Republicans were unified in support of McMahon, but Sen. Lisa Murkowski warned of potential overstep in Trump’s agenda. She cautioned McMahon to beware of federal legislation that forbids the U.S. government from asserting control over school curriculum decisions.
“You may be in a situation where, as secretary, you may not condition the award of a grant on a school agreeing not to teach DEI subjects,” Murkowski said. ”You may be in a position where you are not able to prohibit teachers from discussing LGBTQ issues with students.”
During her opening statement, United States Capitol Police removed a person in the audience who stood up and disrupted the hearing, speaking about the importance of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to protect students with disabilities. Four other people were removed for disruptions during the hearing.
A plan being considered by the White House would direct the education secretary to dismantle the department as much as legally possible while asking Congress to abolish it completely. At a White House news conference last week, Trump said he wanted McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”
Even without an order to close the department, the Trump administration has been overhauling many aspects of its work.
DOGE cut $900 million in contracts for the Education Department office that tracks progress of students in schools across America, raising alarms about the future of the work it has done to support research and track achievement gaps.
On Wednesday, the department fired at least 39 employees who were in a one-year probation period, according to a union that represents agency workers. The firings include civil rights workers, special education specialists and student aid officials.
Trump hasn’t said whether he would preserve the core work of the agency, which sends billions of dollars a year to schools, manages a $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio and enforces civil rights in education.
Already his administration has taken a hard turn on civil rights. The department has instructed investigators to prioritize complaints of antisemitism above all else and has opened investigations into colleges and school sports league that allowed transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams.
At a news conference after the hearing, Murphy said McMahon’s nomination is part of a strategy to defund and privatize public schools. Noting the failure of recent ballot measures to expand school choice in some states, he said families are demanding investment in public schools.
“Billionaires that are in charge of our government today, they don’t know anything about the public school system because they don’t need it,” Murphy said.
McMahon is a longtime Trump ally who became a billionaire as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. She left the wrestling empire in 2009 to launch a political career, running unsuccessfully twice for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. McMahon has given millions to Trump’s campaigns, and during his first term, he picked her to lead the Small Business Administration.
McMahon has a more limited education track record than most previous secretaries. She spent a year on the Connecticut Board of Education and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. McMahon has called for expanded school choice programs, along with a focus on apprenticeships and alternatives to traditional college degrees.
Those urging senators to reject McMahon include the National Education Association — the nation’s largest teachers union — and advocacy groups calling for stronger Title IX protections for victims of sexual assault.
Republicans praise her business acumen and say she’s a good pick to change the course of American education. Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the health and education committee, met with McMahon in January and said she’s “prepared to return power to parents and reform an Education Department that has lost the plot.”
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