President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that he has chosen former wrestling executive Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education, an agency he pledged to dismantle during his campaign in the White House.
“We will return education to the states, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Trump said in a statement Tuesday.
McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, resignation in 2019 to help him in his 2020 re-election campaign.
She also currently serves as co-chair of the Trump transition team, alongside Howard Lutnickhead of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald. Trump announced Tuesday he chose Lutnick to be his commercial secretary.
McMahon and her husband, wrestling entertainment mogul Vince McMahon – who co-founded WWE and ran it for decades before leave the company in January following allegations of sexual misconduct – were friends of Trump for over 20 years and are among its most prolific donors.
Joshua Roberts / REUTERS
McMahon has no experience as an educator, although Trump cited in his statement her tenure on the Connecticut Board of Education from 2009 to 2010 – as well as her time as a board member of the Sacred Heart University of Connecticut – and said McMahon has a “deep understanding of education and business.”
During his 2024 presidential election campaignAsset promised to close the Department of Education, lamenting that the agency’s budget is too large and its staff is filled with “people who, in many cases, hate our children.”
One of the smallest federal agencies, the Department of Education is responsible for distributing financial aid for education, the collection and dissemination of school-related data and research, and the prohibition of discrimination in schools.
Its funds represent less than 10 percent of the nation’s public school funding, which comes primarily from state and local taxes.
Graham Kates contributed to this report.
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