WASHINGTON (AP) – Linda McMahon once described herself as an outsider who stepped into the world of education. Business Leader With a “questioning mind” that challenges the status quo and demands more from students.
That was 15 years ago when McMahon was beginning his mission for the Connecticut Board of Education. But her supporters are still explaining her today as she wants her to become a country. Next Chief of Education.
She has few qualifications typical of her job, but her supporters see it as a strength. She has a clinical business mindset and has little loyalty in the presidential industry Donald Trump Promises to promote – Start with his vow to abolish the US education sector itself.
“Her most important qualifications are her private sector experience,” said Ed Patre, a friend and former spokesman for the 2010 Senate campaign. “The public’s perception of what constitutes qualified candidates has changed dramatically. Americans are more distrustful of the government.”
McMahon’s appointment, which leads the division, throws her into a crazy political battle.
The White House is weighing executive orders directing the Secretary of Education Cut the agent I urge Congress to close completely whenever possible. Already, Trump’s appointees have invited dozens of employees to put on paid leave and Elon Musk’s government efficiency to cut spending.
Congressional Democrats warn that Trump has no authority to dismantle the department or its core programs, warning him that he is anti-aggressive. At a McMahon committee confirmation hearing on Thursday, Democrats will be thrilled to burn her about Trump’s plans and willingness to do so.
D-Conn. Senator Chris Murphy of the group told McMahon that McMahon would be a “disaster” for students across the country. “Millions of children rely on our public schools to educate,” he said after meeting with the candidates.
Trump has already issued an order calling for the education department to take action. Reuse federal money Proactively choose your school Investigating anti-Semitism Cuts federal funding for schools on university campuses that teach controversial lessons about race and gender.
It could present a challenge to McMahon. McMahon is ordered to carry out a series of new initiatives while rewinding the department.
McMahon and her husband Vince became famous for building a wrestling empire that would become world wrestling entertainment. Linda was CEO until she left in 2009, but made two failed bids to the US Senate. She later became a close ally with Trump Please take her to the helm of small business management during his first term.
She has a thinner record of education than most previous secretaries. She spent a year with the Connecticut Board of Education in 2009 and is a longtime trustee at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
In higher education, McMahon expressed his support for apprentices and others Alternatives For a traditional degree. At the K-12 level, she wants to expand School choice It will improve classroom curriculum transparency.
There are questions about how closely McMahon’s views on some issues align with the Trump issue he opposed. Diversity, equity, inclusion The belief that effort is that American schools have been overtaken by “hobbies.” In the past, McMahon called himself a fiscal conservative, but a social moderate.
McMahon recently opposed suggestion From former President Joe Biden’s administration, diversity initiatives will be needed in the apprenticeship program. But speaking on a St. Louis radio show last March, she said that some aspects of the DEI are “admired” and that “we should ensure diversity.”
McMahon did not respond to requests for interviews for this story.
In her past educational role, McMahon was seen as willing to learn inside and outside the institutions she served.
Anthony Sernera appointed McMahon to the Sacred Heart Council in 2004, when he was the school’s president. She studied for all meetings and closely monitored the university’s finances, he said. “She knew what her job was and did it,” he said.
In 2009, McMahon called the governor amid concerns that the two children attended at Greenwich Public Schools, and failed to meet the federal test benchmarks, Connecticut Board of Education after calling the governor in concerns that it had not met the federal government’s test benchmarks. was appointed to.
During her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she was surprised that a city as wealthy as Greenwich was behind in education. She warned about widening academic achievement gaps across races and class.
“I won’t come before you as an educator today. I won’t be able to get any pain in that,” she told lawmakers. “There’s no answer, but I’m open-minded.”
After attending regular meetings for about a year, she resigned for a 2010 Senate bid. Running as a self-funded Republican, McMahon was plagued by the history of wrestling in the face of criticism of allegations of violence, sexuality and steroid use among wrestlers.
A new allegation surfaced last year Litigation McMahon accused longtime WWE announcers of allowing young “ring boys” to sexually abuse them from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Linda McMahon’s lawyer, Laura Brebetti, said the lawsuit was baseless and “full of creepy lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations.”
After losing the Senate race in 2010 and losing again in 2012, McMahon continued to be involved in politics as a donor. Trump’s longtime friend gave his 2016 campaign $7 million and another $30 million in his next two campaigns, according to federal records.
In addition to co-chairing Trump’s transition team, McMahon is also the director of the president’s media company, which owns his true social platform. If confirmed, McMahon said he would leave the board and confiscated shares that are expected to be awarded over the next two years, according to ethics disclosures.
In the SBA, it was believed that McMahon had strengthened his ability to award loans after natural disasters. Once she arrived, she challenged the agency to prepare to accommodate up to three disasters in one season. It was a few months before the US was criticized by three major hurricanes in 2017.
When she resigned in 2019, she drew bipartisan admiration. However, her appointment as Secretary of Education elicited mixed reactions.
Sen. Patty Murray of D-Washington, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he has doubts about McMahon’s eligibility. She said the agency needs someone to “stopping up for students and teachers.”
McMahon, along with civil rights advocacy groups, faces opposition from the country’s two major teacher unions. Republicans generally support her choices and say they understand how education can burn the economy.
Earlier this year, McMahon visited Capitol Hill to meet with the senators prior to the confirmation hearing. In a social media post describing the visit, McMahon said he would “reform” the education sector.
“I’m ready to make the American education system great again,” she said in X. “Let’s put this together.”
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