Donald Trump will nominate longtime ally Linda McMahon, who led the Small Business Administration during his first term, for education secretary, the president-elect announced Tuesday.
“Linda will use her decades of leadership experience, and deep understanding of both education and business, to empower the next generation of American students and workers, and make America number one in education in the world,” Trump said in a statement. “We will send education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”
Roll Call reported that in his announcement, Trump said McMahon will “fight tirelessly to expand ‘choice’ to every state in America, and empower parents to make the best education decisions for their families.”
McMahon played a big role in Trump’s re-election campaign and served as chairwoman of the America First Action political action committee.
“McMahon, 76, gained prominence as a powerful force in making World Wrestling Entertainment a multibillion-dollar enterprise before she led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term,” Politico reported.
Trump is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame.
“McMahon was appointed to the Connecticut state Board of Education but resigned roughly a year later in 2010 when she made a failed run for the Senate,” Politico reported.
A graduate of East Carolina University, the outlet added, she has “minimal education experience, but is the board chair of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank stocked with other Trump insiders, and she’d likely sail through her Senate confirmation.”
According to the Associated Press, McMahon has voiced interest in education:
McMahon served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009. She told lawmakers at the time that she had a lifelong interest in education and once planned to become a teacher, a goal that fell aside after her marriage.
She also spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
McMahon is seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she has expressed support for charter schools and school choice.
The job is not expected to be easy.
“McMahon is likely to be assigned the fraught task of carrying out what is widely expected to be a thorough and determined dismantling of the department’s core functions,” the New York Times reported. “And she would assume the role at a time when school districts across the country are facing budget shortfalls, many students are not making up ground lost during the pandemic in reading and math, and many colleges and universities are shrinking and closing amid a larger loss of faith in the value of higher education.”
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