Linda McMahon - who is the United States secretary of education

Biography of Linda Mc Mahon

Linda Mc Mahon was appointed to her position by President Donald Trump during his second term. She is best known for her leadership roles in the sports industry with WWE, also known as World Wrestling Entertainment. In 2025, Linda Mac Mahon has ideas that appear to be very controversial in some circles, ideas mainly focused on decentralization, on the choice of schools and on the abolition of the federal Department of Education. 

Her full name is Linda Marie Mac Mahon, née Edwards, she was born on October 04, 1948, in North Carolina. Her initial training at the university was French, she graduated in 1969. Earlier, we talked about her involvement in WWE, she was indeed co-founder and CEO of this association between 1980 and 2009. 

 

Her political career, the main dates 

From 2009 to 2010, she was a member of the Connecticut State Board of Education. 

In 2010, she ran for the Republican Senate and in 2012, but she lost twice to her opponents, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy. 

Between 2021 and 2024, she directed the think tank America First Policy Institute. 

November 19, 2024, is the official date of her appointment by the president to the position of Secretary of Education, but she does not take office until March 3, 2025. The same month, the Department of Education was dismantled. 

In July 2025, the Supreme Court authorized a very significant reduction in staff in this sector and in August 2025, she began her "Returning Education to the States" tour.

What are her political priorities? 

Linda Mac Mahon wants to reform the existing education system in the United States. 

As we said above, the Department of Education has been dismantled, Linda McMahon has been invested by the President of the United States with facilitating the closure of the federal department, which has existed since 1979. 

In addition, she also wants each of the States to have their own responsibilities about education, and that these no longer rest solely on a single body. This will facilitate the procedures and the overall organization of the sector. It is based on the principle that "education belongs to local communities".

In addition, the program wants to further develop vouchers, which work like vouchers, and which should allow families to enroll their children in private schools if they wish.

Linda Mc Mahon also thinks that vocational and technical courses must be more emphasized and offered more systematically to students. 

Finally, she develops in the program the importance of integrating artificial intelligence and new technologies into official programs. In her view, this is a way to better prepare students for the professional world, which is intrinsically linked to these innovations. 

 

Her national tour since August 2025: "Returning Education to the States"

Her new vision for education in the United States is to be put forward in 50 states, the first stops being Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. 

Among its main objectives is to set the best examples at the local level to be able to draw inspiration from them and set up a system that is both more reliable and more relevant. As mentioned above, the Secretary also wants each state to be able to develop its own programs and curricula, so that they become more independent in the field of education. To this end, it would be a question of proposing tools that would not be restrictive but that would be a positive point for children's learning.

For the moment, there are some positive points, since Republican governors are rather in favor of this package of reforms. However, the criticism comes mainly from teachers and some parents, who are opposed to this form of privatization. 

Indeed, for many, this type of reform could further widen social inequalities, and not all families will have access to private schools, which are often very expensive. These risks weakening traditional schools in the long term. 

 

The main criticisms 

These new proposals have led to many job cuts, since in March 2025, 1300, employees from the Department of Education lost their jobs. This represents half of the total workforce. Even though these dismissals were ruled illegal by a federal judge, they were still validated by the Supreme Court in July 2025. 

The Department of Education has existed for many decades, and seeing it disappear in this way poses several controversies in the political world, but also in the educational world. 

Thus, many who were against this reform highlight the fact that some gains could disappear, such as certain forms of student loans, particularly at the federal level. The same applies to subsidies granted to disadvantaged schools or all the protections against the various forms of discrimination in schools. 

In the long term, this could fragment the entire education system and further affirm all the inequalities that already exist and against which it will be more difficult to fight. 

 

The influence of Linda McMahon 

For the Secretary of Education, the federal government must now play a much smaller role in the entire American education system. Each State must be able to organize itself to set up its own system, subject to common proposals, aimed at improving the system. 

For those who stand by its side, it appears to be a kind of precursor, but for others, it represents a downright threat to the well-being of education. 

 

Conclusion 

Linda Mac Mahon has therefore been Secretary of Education since March 2025 and is pursuing a rather offensive policy, wishing to reform the entire American education system. What should be remembered is that she wants to give greater responsibilities to each state and above all, to reduce federal authority in the field of education. 

Her program appeals to some conservatives, but also brings a lot of criticism, especially from teachers and parents, who fear an increase in inequality.