Tomorrow, the Senate will hold a confirmation hearing for Linda McMahon, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Education. EdTrust firmly opposes her confirmation. At a time when students — especially those from traditionally underserved communities — need strong leadership to protect and strengthen public and postsecondary education, McMahon is the wrong choice.

We need a Secretary of Education who will prioritize strengthening and protecting public schools, colleges, and universities to ensure all students, especially the most underserved, receive a high-quality education. Instead, McMahon’s track record suggests she will prioritize dismantling the Department of Education and diverting public dollars to private institutions, leaving millions of students behind.

McMahon ‘s Agenda: A Direct Threat to Public Schools

President Trump has made his intentions for public education clear. His administration seeks to gut federal oversight and accountability, divert public funds to private schools, and eliminate critical civil rights protections for students — all parts of the Project 2025 playbook. Within weeks of taking office, Trump issued executive orders that attempt to circumvent congressional authority and strip the Department of Education of its core functions — actions that signal his broader intent to dismantle the agency altogether.  He has even gone on record as saying he wants his nominee to “work herself out of a job.” If confirmed, McMahon would be the architect of this dangerous agenda.

Her background underscores why she is unfit for this role. As the former head of the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first term, McMahon approached governance through a corporate lens, prioritizing budget cuts and deregulation over public service.  Her leadership at the America First Policy Institute — a think tank committed to advancing Trump’s Project 2025 blueprint — has actively promoted pro-voucher policies that undermine public education and strip students of critical resources and opportunities they need to achieve the American dream.

Simply put, she is a billionaire businesswoman who is completely out of touch with what American families want and need for their children, with zero experience in education. This puts students — especially students of color, students from low-income backgrounds and from rural areas, and students with disabilities — at risk. Simply put: We need the Department of Education, and we need a Secretary who will faithfully execute their role and responsibilities to ensure our nation’s students have every opportunity to receive a high-quality education.

The Dangers of McMahon’s Policies

If confirmed, McMahon would be positioned to execute an education agenda that prioritizes profits over students. This includes:

• Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education: Project 2025 explicitly calls for eliminating the agency responsible for enforcing civil rights protections, distributing federal education funding, and holding states accountable for student performance. Without this oversight, students — especially those from low-income backgrounds, students of color, and students with disabilities — will face increased disparities in access to high-quality education.
• Diverting Public Funds to Private Schools: McMahon has openly supported school vouchers, which funnel taxpayer dollars into private schools that can discriminate against students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ youth, and English learners. With 90% of America’s children attending public schools, this approach would devastate the education system, leaving underfunded schools to struggle even further.
• Making College Less Affordable: McMahon’s policy agenda aligns with Trump’s efforts to privatize the student loan system, eliminate debt relief programs, and make higher education even more inaccessible for millions of students. These changes would disproportionately harm Black, Latino, and low-income borrowers, deepening the racial wealth gap and limiting economic mobility.

Federal Leadership Should Advance, Not Destroy, Public Education

Ninety percent of students attend public K-12 schools. That’s nearly 50 million children — the majority of whom are students of color. There are also more than 15 million college students in the US.  Their education must be improved and protected if America is to stay atop the global economy. Students are our nation’s future and our greatest resource, and the government should do everything to protect them. Right now, students are the victims of political games that not only threaten their futures but the future of America’s standing across the globe.

Federal leadership must focus on equity, quality, and access, not dismantling systems that underserved communities rely on. The Department of Education exists to hold states and institutions accountable. However, if defunding the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is any indication, it’s clear that this administration is taking reckless actions that risk student success, academic excellence, and our nation’s economic growth and competitiveness. An uneducated workforce will dramatically diminish our nation’s prowess across the globe.

Our students deserve a first-class education at a time when our nation needs them the most.

Key Questions for McMahon

1. Do you agree with Project 2025’s plan to eliminate the Department of Education? If so, why should we expect you to fulfill your role as Secretary?
2. Do you support a federal voucher program that would divert critical federal funds from public schools to private schools?
3. Do you agree with the benefits of a high-quality, diverse teacher workforce? If so, what should the Department’s strategy be for increasing the number of teachers of color?
4. Do you agree that Plyler v. Doe is settled law? Will you commit to protecting all children’s’, including undocumented students, right to a public education? And do you believe that schools should be a safe place for all students, free from the threats of ICE deportations?
5. Do you support eliminating the SAVE Plan, which would raise millions of borrowers’ monthly payments and force them into one income-based plan that will cause more of them, through no fault of their own, to be saddled with a lifetime of debt?
6. NAEP scores once again reaffirm that the US must renew their focus on student performance. Will you uphold critical federal efforts to improve student achievement, such as high impact tutoring and expanded learning time?
7. Do you recognize the importance of the Office of Civil Rights and the essential protections it provides for students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and other underrepresented groups?

But questions alone aren’t enough. The Senate must reject McMahon’s nomination and demand a leader who will uphold the mission of the Department of Education: to expand opportunity, protect civil rights, and invest in students’ success.

The future of public education — and the millions of students who rely on it — depends on it.