4:14Education Secretary Linda McMahon delivers remarks during a televised interview at the White House, Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington.Alex Brandon/AP
In her endeavor to serve as the nation's concluding head of the Education Department, Linda McMahon has undertaken significant actions to fulfill President Donald Trump's ambition of closing down the organization.
Since her approval by the Senate in early March, the secretary has been tasked with abolishing the department utilizing all requisite measures authorized by law, and Education Department officials suggest she is employing her extensive authority to accomplish this. This directive has encompassed a wide range of activities, from collaborating with entities capable of jointly managing the department's duties to significantly diminishing the agency's personnel by reducing its workforce by nearly half.
One year ago Wednesday, then-President elect Trump lauded McMahon's proficiency, selecting the former WWE CEO and business executive to restore education authority to the states and eliminate her own position.
"Linda will leverage her decades of leadership background, coupled with her thorough grasp of both Education and Business, to empower the rising generation of American Learners and Workers, thereby elevating America to the pinnacle of global Education," the president's formal announcement stated. "We will delegate Education RESPONSIBILITY BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will guide this undertaking," he emphasized.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon speaks during a television interview at the White House, Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington.Alex Brandon/AP
McMahon has spearheaded vital initiatives to fulfill Trump's commitment. The secretary has discontinued regional offices dedicated to handling civil rights complaints and tasked with scrutinizing discrimination within educational institutions; dismissed a multitude of staff members within the Federal Student Aid (FSA) division, which aids students in attaining higher education and oversees a $1.6 trillion portfolio of student debt; and she is consistently seeking avenues to transfer those mandated functions and others, such as the administration of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which ensures a free and suitable education for children with special needs, to separate allied organizations.
Over the preceding months, the smallest Cabinet-level entity has been radically transformed in an attempt to alleviate bureaucratic obstacles and minimize Washington's bureaucratic complexities; however, critics assert that the ramifications extend far beyond mere workforce reductions. These adjustments are precipitating immediate detriment to students and could potentially hold lasting implications for future cohorts, according to education advocates like American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten. Weingarten communicated to ABC News that the Trump administration is, in effect, "abandoning the nation's prospects."
Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), speaks November 13, 2025 in New York City.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
"Trump's rhetoric conveys 'I'm abolishing the Education Department,'" Weingarten told ABC News, continuing with "He's underscoring that the sole department currently addressing the needs of children – he is stating 'I want to dismantle it.' That embodies an abandonment of the future. That symbolizes a relinquishment of accountability."
In contrast, proponents of educational independence, such as Neal McCluskey at the libertarian think-tank known as the Cato Institute, commend McMahon's initiatives to shutter the department, as he maintains it should not exist.
"The Constitution does not vest in the federal government the authority to preside over education, and the department lacks any history of demonstrable achievements," McCluskey asserted in a statement to ABC News.
McMahon has expressed that the education framework should operate more effectively, and autonomy should be reinstated to those most proximate to school children, such as families and regional education bodies. She is sustaining a 50-state endeavor to scrutinize exemplary educational methodologies at the state echelon and collaborating with local figures to propagate these methodologies across the nation. McMahon is simultaneously endeavoring to formalize the department's modifications into enacted legislation.
The Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC, Oct. 10, 2025.Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images
To that end, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., indicated that McMahon will "need to engage with Congress." Nonetheless, Foxx wholeheartedly champions McMahon's ongoing efforts to expose what they label as an unsuccessful agency that critics contend has failed to address outcomes in student performance.
"She is illuminating for the American populace the extent to which the Education Department is superfluous," Foxx conveyed to ABC News. "It transcends mere redundancy. It inflicts detriment [upon students]; consequently, by shifting elements into other departments, she is gradually dismantling the department and demonstrating its lack of necessity."
Andy Kim, one among the 45 Democratic senators who sought to obstruct McMahon's confirmation, contended that the federal government should augment assistance and opportunities for students, instead of withdrawing governmental support. He characterized the secretary's endeavor to shutter the agency as "irresponsible."
"It exemplifies the extent of the detriment they've [the Trump administration] wrought concerning our capacity to furnish our children with, as it were, the requisite resources for their advancement," Kim conveyed to ABC News.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
