Public students will be the losers if erstwhile World Wrestling Entertainment CEO and performer Linda McMahon is confirmed to lead the Department of Education.
McMahon was clearly nominated as education secretary not because of any educational expertise, but because she’s a loyal member of President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle. McMahon will gladly fulfill Trump’s oft-repeated goal of dismantling or crippling the Education Department and expanding voucher programs that transfer funding from public to religiously segregated schools.
“As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,” Trump proclaimed in his official statement. He added the misleading boast that “we will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort” — misleading because education is already the purview of states.
“Trump and McMahon’s interest in improving education is as phony as the sport of wrestling,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.
McMahon is chair of the board of the America First Policy Institute, which she helped start with Tim Dunn, the billionaire Christian nationalist pastor seeking to destroy public education, privatize public schools and create a theocracy. The Institute is a nonprofit think tank dedicated to promoting policies aligned with Trump’s agenda. The Institute’s America First Agenda, which competes with Project 2025 as a playbook for Trump’s return to the White House, details the radical transformation it has planned for America’s education system in “Pillar IV: Give Parents More Control Over the Education of Their Children.”
America First’s policy blueprint lays out several priorities in line with policies that Trump and his Christian nationalist allies have pushed, including protecting their radical vision of “religious freedom,” ending climate change efforts, thwarting transgender rights and opposing gun control measures. Although it does not call for banning abortion entirely at the federal level, the America First playbook argues for defunding Planned Parenthood.
Despite the ongoing campaign to defund public schools, the majority of voters across the country continue to reject school vouchers. Three ballot initiatives on school choice failed in just the last election alone, including a ballot initiative in Kentucky funneling public money toward private schooling that was defeated by roughly 65 percent to 35 percent. In Nebraska, almost all 93 counties voted to repeal an existing voucher program, and in Colorado, voters rejected an attempt to add a “right to school choice” to the state Constitution.
The vast majority of private schools are religiously affiliated. Vouchers and tuition tax credits (or other “neovoucher” programs) almost entirely benefit religious schools with overtly religious missions, which integrate religion into every subject. Further, most voucher beneficiaries are students who would have attended private religious schools anyway. Thus, such programs divert public funding from public schools to private religious schools without any reasonable justification.
A cornerstone of the United States of America is our “common school” — free, publicly supported schools open to all children regardless of social class, religion, ethnicity, gender or country of origin. America forged the very concept of universal education. Dismantling the Department of Education would undermine public education, reduce oversight and severely harm the most vulnerable students in our country.
The Department of Education plays a vital role in leveling the playing field for students from all walks of life. Programs like Title I provide funding to schools serving low-income communities, ensuring that every child — regardless of ZIP code — has access to quality education. Without federal oversight, states with fewer resources might struggle to meet the needs of marginalized students, such as those with disabilities or English language learners, exacerbating existing inequalities.
While education is primarily a state and local responsibility, federal oversight ensures that states adhere to baseline standards in areas like testing, graduation rates and teacher qualifications. Without the Department of Education, there would be little recourse to address systemic problems, such as schools failing to meet the needs of disadvantaged populations, enforcement of civil rights and critical protections for vulnerable students.
Public education is the cornerstone of a free and democratic society — and the Department of Education plays a crucial role in ensuring that every child, regardless of their background, has access to a quality education. We must protect the Department of Education and ensure that our public education system remains secular, inclusive and accessible to all children. Dismantling the Education Department and attacking public education through vouchers will erode the very foundation of our democracy: public education.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 40,000 members and several chapters across the country. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
