U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon is taking over a department she's pledged to work with Congress to reorganize -- or dismantle, report Erica Meltzer and Kalyn Belsha on Chalkbeat. She won Senate confirmation yesterday on a party-line vote.
A former head of the Small Business Administration, and a billionaire wrestling magnate, McMahon has minimal education experience. However, she'll be supported by two well-respected former state education leaders, Penny Schwinn, who ran Tennessee schools, and North Dakota Superintendent Kirsten Baesler.
It's not clear whether McMahon and her team will be able overturn DOGE-ordered cuts in grants, such as the controversial decision to cancel research contracts and testing designed to collect achievement data.
"McMahon told senators that she would examine these cuts and might reverse some of them," report Meltzer and Belsha. A Washington Post story reports McMahon is “frustrated” with Musk’s approach, according to an unnamed source. But will she have the authority to run the department?
“We have to believe that inside the Department of Education, between McMahon and the political appointees and DOGE, there will be some big fights,” Fordham's Michael Petrilli told Chalkbeat “We have to be rooting for McMahon and her colleagues to win.”
The first question to ask is what will happen after Title I funding for poor school district is eliminated.