{"id":1055613,"date":"2025-08-14T11:35:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T15:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1055613"},"modified":"2025-08-14T11:35:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T15:35:57","slug":"trumps-megadonor-minion-mcmahon-is-taking-a-wrecking-ball-to-public-education-ahead-of-back-to-school-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-megadonor-minion-mcmahon-is-taking-a-wrecking-ball-to-public-education-ahead-of-back-to-school-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Megadonor Minion McMahon is Taking a Wrecking Ball to Public Education Ahead of Back-to-School Season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As Education Secretary Linda McMahon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ed.gov\/about\/news\/press-release\/secretary-mcmahon-announces-returning-education-states-50-state-tour\">travels<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nw-arkansas\/2025\/08\/13\/mcmahon-arkansas-school-tour-education-policy\">across<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.klfy.com\/louisiana\/us-education-secretary-linda-mcmahon-to-visit-louisiana-monday\/?nxsparam=9\">country<\/a> trying to sell Trump\u2019s disastrous billionaire-first budget, parents are bracing for an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/school-supply-prices-debt-tariffs-b2794729.html\">expensive<\/a> back-to-school season because of Trump\u2019s tariffs. Instead of spending her time helping students, McMahon has been carrying out Trump\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/policy\/education-department-trump-executive-order-eeaf1cb6?st=rh1yX3\">wildly unpopular<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/03\/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities\/\">promise<\/a> to shut down the Department of Education ahead of the new school year. From trying (and failing) to slash funding for public schools to reckless mass firings, McMahon is taking a wrecking ball to public education across the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Linda McMahon was put in charge of the Education Department just to gut the agency. Since her confirmation, McMahon has:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/education\/5190161-linda-mcmahon-education-department-mass-layoffs\/\">Confirmed<\/a> her mass firings of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/03\/11\/nx-s1-5324746\/trump-education-department-layoffs-closure-reorganization\">nearly half<\/a> the Education Department\u2019s staff were \u201cthe first step on the road to a total shutdown\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rubber-stamped Trump\u2019s 2026 budget \u2014 including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/education\/trump-cuts-to-education-department-grants-will-cost-students-opportunities-educators-and-former-employees-say\">cuts<\/a> to critical funding for low-income students to attend college\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-02-04\/trump-to-diminish-education-department-financial-aid-fate-uncertain\">Placed<\/a> critical programs for more than 50 million K-12 students in jeopardy\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Threw student loan debt relief into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/education\/education-department-backlog-student-loan-complaints-rcna223508\">chaos<\/a> for tens of thousands after firing two-thirds of the staff in the Federal Student Aid ombudsman office<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/policy\/education-department-trump-executive-order-eeaf1cb6?st=rh1yX3\">majority<\/a> of Americans oppose Trump and McMahon\u2019s mission to shut down the Education Department \u2014 instead, Americans broadly support protecting (and <a href=\"https:\/\/all4ed.org\/press_release\/new-poll-find-voters-across-party-lines-want-more-career-options-more-funding-for-public-schools-and-oppose-eliminating-the-u-s-department-of-education\/\">expanding<\/a>) education funding. That\u2019s why, when McMahon froze nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/07\/01\/us\/trump-education-funds.html\">$7 billion<\/a> in education funding for low-income communities, summer programs, and ESL students, Democrats fought back and <a href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trump-caves-billions-of-dollars-in-education-funding-released-to-states-after-massive-backlash-from-democrats\/\">won<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s not forget that McMahon has almost no experience working in education and even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/education\/2024\/11\/20\/linda-mcmahon-education-secretary-degree-discrepancy\/76451271007\/\">lied<\/a> about having a degree in education. She bought her way into the Department by donating over <a href=\"https:\/\/wrestlenomics.com\/articles\/2024\/linda-mcmahon-contributed-more-than-10-million-to-help-elect-donald-trump-in-2024-a-breakdown-of-her-political-donations\/\">$10 million<\/a> to Trump. and it shows:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>McMahon admitted during her confirmation hearing that she was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nea.org\/advocating-for-change\/action-center\/letters-testimony\/vote-no-confirming-linda-mcmahon-secretary-education\">unfamiliar<\/a> with key provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) \u2014 she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/education-secretary-stumbles-on-fox-as-department-bloodbath-officially-begins\/\">didn\u2019t even know<\/a> what the IDEA acronym stands for.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>She unleashed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/trump-mcmahon-department-of-education-layoffs\/\">chaos<\/a> on the Department, leaving lifelong public servants <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/trump-mcmahon-department-of-education-layoffs\/\">\u201cscared\u201d<\/a> about what the future holds.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Least we forget \u2014 McMahon famously wants to teach students about the <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/a1-steak-sauce-has-hilarious-response-after-secretary-of-education-linda-mcmahon-flubs-11714927\">steak sauce A1<\/a> instead of artificial intelligence.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout her short 160-day tenure, McMahon has made it crystal clear that she doesn\u2019t give a damn about the millions of working families that rely on public education. She only cares about lining her and her billionaire friends\u2019 pockets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Education Secretary Linda McMahon travels across the country trying to sell Trump\u2019s disastrous billionaire-first budget, parents are bracing for an expensive back-to-school season because of Trump\u2019s tariffs. Instead of spending her time helping students, McMahon has been carrying out Trump\u2019s wildly unpopular promise to shut down the Department of Education ahead of the new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump\u2019s Megadonor Minion McMahon is Taking a Wrecking Ball to Public Education Ahead of Back-to-School Season - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-megadonor-minion-mcmahon-is-taking-a-wrecking-ball-to-public-education-ahead-of-back-to-school-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-14T15:35:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-14T15:35:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-megadonor-minion-mcmahon-is-taking-a-wrecking-ball-to-public-education-ahead-of-back-to-school-season\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-megadonor-minion-mcmahon-is-taking-a-wrecking-ball-to-public-education-ahead-of-back-to-school-season\/\",\"name\":\"Trump\u2019s Megadonor Minion McMahon is Taking a Wrecking Ball to Public Education Ahead of Back-to-School Season - 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