“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 if 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 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.
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 disrupting the hearing throughout the morning.
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.
Representatives Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have been accessing Education Department databases, identifying workers for dismissal and canceling contracts. The department cut $900 million in contracts for its 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. Termination letters sent to workers said their further employment would not be in the public interest.
Trump has suggested a different interpretation of the office's civil rights role. Under his administration, the department has instructed the office 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.
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.
In a letter to McMahon this week, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim said she’ll be asked if she supports Trump’s plan, and what action she will take to carry it out. The letter asks McMahon for commitments to preserve the department’s student loan operations and civil rights office, among other programs highlighted by the Democrats.
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.
At a 2009 hearing to serve on Connecticut’s education board, McMahon said she planned to become a teacher after college but instead found work at a law firm before building WWE with her husband, Vince.
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.”
___
The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP