SETS THE STANDARD FOR POLITICAL REPORTING.

EDUCATION

Trump’s pick for education chief sketches a roadmap for dismantling the department

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, attends a hearing of the Health, Education, and Labor Committee on her nomination, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
1 of 12 |  

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, attends a hearing of the Health, Education, and Labor Committee on her nomination, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

BY  COLLIN BINKLEY AND ANNIE MA
Updated 11:22 PM GMT+6, February 13, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — Linda McMahon on Thursday sketched out how key functions of the Education Department could be carved up to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of dismantling the agency, vowing to “reorient” the department while continuing some of its largest programs.

Questioned about the fate of specific programs at her confirmation hearing, McMahon vowed to preserve core initiatives including Title I money for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income college students, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. She said the Trump administration wants to “do this right” and she believes it would take an act of Congress to abolish the Education Department.

“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