Nancy Bailey considers some of the possible effects of Trump administration education ideas. Reposted with permission.
Many well-prepared educators have spent years teaching and leading schools and are well-prepared to improve public education, even making our schools the best in the world!
Instead, Trump chose an education secretary, Linda McMahon, who could lead the final knockdown of America’s public schools. More about McMahon in a minute.
Trump, Musk, and Maga Republicans want to eliminate the US Department of Education (US DOE) and a public school system many parents rely on for their children’s education—scorching programs for students with disabilities and the poor, student loans for college, addressing data privacy issues, programs to end discrimination, and much more.
They want to send those laws and funding to the states or give them to another department, which doesn’t automatically mean laws will be followed, or the money will be used for the intended purposes.
The New York Times reports that billionaire Musk is already in the building, with his cost-cutting crew gleefully determining how he can dismantle the department (Montague & Greenburg, 2025).
It’s not clear if Musk has ever visited a public school. I’m wondering if he understands the meaning of an IEP. Does he know the history of civil rights and schools?
Not only will they end the US DOE, but the President wants school choice, favoring vouchers to wealthy parents who are already sending their children to private and parochial schools. This will devastate the middle class and significantly hurt low-income students.
McMahon and those Trump appoints in educational leadership positions might believe they’re serving their country but will likely only be cogs in Trump’s agenda to end public education.
They won’t be required to understand how children learn or how public schools work best; innovation isn’t the goal.
They’re there to destroy public education for privatization, which is what many corporate reformers, not just Trump, have wanted for 40 years.
Linda McMahon
Trump has chosen the CEO of a wrestling organization, a non-educator, Linda McMahon, while a judge has paused a sex scandal investigation involving McMahon and her husband.
McMahon won’t be the first education secretary to lack education qualifications. But she is unique. In her WWE role, one can find pictures of McMahon clobbering and being punched out by her adult children. It’s strange to see someone engrained in that culture chosen to lead education.
CBS reports that the McMahons are prolific Trump donors. Newsweek reports McMahon was recently awarded nearly $195,000 in Trump stock.
Like other billionaires, the McMahon family has donated to charter schools and privatization groups. ABC reports that McMahon said:
“I believe in local control. I am an advocate for choice through charter schools.”
The public does not generally control charter schools like traditional public schools, and parents do not have a choice. Instead, private, parochial, and charter schools often choose which students to accept.
According to Spectrum News Trump nominated McMahon despite his call to eliminate the Education Department because he wants her “to put herself out of a job.”
It’s not that McMahon didn’t want to be a teacher. She served a year on the Connecticut State Board of Education and became a trustee of Sacred Heart University.
If she had become a teacher, I wonder if she would have refused to support Trump’s plan, which will hurt many students.
Penny Schwinn
Trump also chose the controversial Penny Schwinn (wrongly calling her “Peggy”) as undersecretary. Born from Teach for America, Schwinn has bounced from state to state, is mired in controversy, and has ineffectively held high-level education positions pushed by right-wing public education reformers.
Her husband is a TNTP Coach, a long-time nonprofit that has disparaged public schools and teachers. There was even some Penny controversy about this.
Some school reformers cheered her appointment (Schultz, 2025). However, many who did, such as Arne Duncan and Margaret Spellings, were also controversial picks who did plenty to advance the end of public ed.
Mercedes Schneider provides a great rundown about Schwinn, writing about the Texas fiasco involving a questionable no-bid special ed. contract to a sketchy, inexperienced company and her problems in Tennessee and other states like Delaware.
Exceptional Delaware describes blog posts about Schwinn’s failings in Delaware, including setting unrealistic stretch goals for students with disabilities.
I can say this about “Peggy”- she does a fantastic job pissing people off. Now she gets to do it at a national level if the Senate confirms her. It was NOT on my bingo card for 2025 that Penny Schwinn would return at a national level. But here we are…
Even Republicans expressed concern about Schwinn’s appointment. Texas public school activist Lynn Davenport said on X, “My phone is blowing up over the latest disaster in the Trump cabinet. He just appointed Penny Schwinn to the US Department of Education as a deputy under @Linda_McMahon.”
Schwinn refused to enforce Tennessee’s CRT ban, didn’t rush students back to class during COVID, and took other stands that would make her likable to liberals.
Other Concerns
The Trump-Vance team also staffed the U.S. Department of Education with senior nominees who promise to empower parents but have little preparation in K-12 instruction. Most have only studied policy and have never been in the classroom.
What will America’s students gain from eliminating the US DOE and giving wealthy parents vouchers? What will happen to those who want strong public schools with qualified teachers?
As Trump and Musk move to create chaos that will likely lead to the end of public schooling as we know it, Donald Trump will likely go down in history books not as an education president but as one who failed to understand the great American public school system and the students it served!
The US DOE could improve, but it doesn’t need to be eliminated.
Will legislators at the confirmation hearings be lackeys choosing McMahon, aiding and abetting in the destruction of the public schools most Americans rely on, forcing the school choice most constituents rejected at the voting booth? Or will they finally stand up for what’s right for America’s families?
I wish we could be hopeful.
Choosing those who will do Donald Trump’s bidding to end all means of educational leadership and public school accountability is a travesty.
Reference
Montague, Z. and Greenburg, J.S. (2025, February 4). Musk Team Scrutinizes Education Department Operations. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/us/politics/musk-education-department.html
Schultz, B. (2025, January 27). How the K-12 World Is Reacting to Trump’s Pick for the Ed. Dept.’s No. 2 Job. Education Week. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/how-the-k-12-world-is-reacting-to-trumps-pick-for-the-ed-dept-s-no-2-job/2025/01
