Top Parental Rights Group Endorses Trump’s Pick for Secretary of Education Linda McMahon

A top parental rights group has endorsed President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon.

Parents Defending Education Action, (PDE Action), which describes itself as “a nonpartisan policy and advocacy organization that helps reclaim our public schools through policy engagement and advocacy at the local, district, and state level,” endorsed McMahon on Tuesday and said they are excited to see her “take the helm to launch a resurgence of learning and efficiency into our schools.”

PDE Action Director of Federal Affairs Michele Exner outlined the organization’s support of McMahon in a letter to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, and ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), and urged the lawmakers to swiftly confirm her. 

“The Biden administration’s Department of Education has been the source for the outrage many families have felt,” the letter reads, detailing many failures of the education system through the COVID-19 pandemic and after, including massive learning losses, woke DEI and gender policies, and the Department of Justice’s targeting of concerned parents as “domestic terrorists.” 

“…Parents have had enough and for millions of families, January 20th, 2025, cannot come soon enough. They are excited for a new era of education in America. They are looking forward to leadership, both in the White House and in Congress, that will finally get rid of disastrous DEI policies, return to a meritocracy, and increase school choice for families,” the letter reads. “At Parents Defending Education Action, we are particularly excited to see Linda McMahon, President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, take the helm to launch a resurgence of learning and efficiency into our schools.” It continues: 

Parents in America deserve an education system that will make their children’s learning and parental involvement a cornerstone of its mission. That is exactly what they can expect from Ms. McMahon. She is a smart, innovative, and fearless business leader who knows what it takes to run a successful company. As one of the co-founders of WWE, she helped take what started out as a 13-person operation and grew it to a powerhouse that had hundreds of employees around the world. She also served as the 25th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration where she worked to represent 30 million small businesses across the county.

On top of her impressive and impeccable business credentials, she also spent time serving on the Connecticut Board of Education and was a member of the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University. She also has more than 15 years working in and around politics, making her well suited to navigate her new role in the administration.

As an organization that advocates on behalf of parents’ concerns and the quality of education, we urge you to expedite and prioritize Ms. McMahon’s nomination. She has already gone through a confirmation process and received an impressive 81 votes in support of her nomination to the Small Business Administration just a few years ago. Even in a partisan process, there was overwhelming support for Ms. McMahon. There is no reason to delay – let’s ensure there is a swift confirmation process, so we can have officials in place to start tackling the education crises the Biden administration left behind.

The Republican Governors Association also expressed support on Tuesday for McMahon’s confirmation in a letter to Cassidy and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).

“[P]arents are counting on President Trump to deliver on his education policies, and to do that, they need Linda McMahon confirmed as Secretary of Education,” the governors wrote. 

“McMahon is a rare find: a businesswoman who can also speak the language of government from her time leading the Small Business Administration. She worked on education policy in her home state of Connecticut and is a mother and grandmother. She believes in a smaller federal government that prioritizes local voices and needs,” they continued. 

“Unlike the Biden Administration, McMahon will not try to dictate singular, nationwide education policies from on-high in Washington. She will reverse burdensome mandates and target inefficiencies in the Department of Education,” the letter reads. “She will champion state leaders to continue the proven, conservative education reforms sweeping the nation: retaining and recruiting highly qualified teachers, a greater focus on literacy and civic education, expanded investments in workforce training, and parental empowerment.” 

Left-leaning Politico reported on Tuesday that McMahon’s confirmation process has experienced some sort of delay, apparently to do with paperwork, “likely punting the hearing to after Inauguration Day.”

Trump announced his nomination of McMahon soon after he won the 2024 presidential election in November, saying that she will “fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families.”

He said:

Linda served for two years on the Connecticut Bord of Eduction, where she was one of fifteen members overseeing all Public Education in the State, including its Technical High School system. She also served as a Member of the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, for two stints totaling over 16 years. She is now doing an incredible job as Co-Chair of our Trump-Vance Transition Team. Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World. We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.

Trump has notably expressed support for ending the Department of Education (which was established under President Jimmy Carter 45 years ago) and sending power back to states and communities.

In August 2023, during an X Spaces interview with Elon Musk, Trump pointed out that U.S. education scores are tumbling compared to other developed countries, even though the United States spends “more per pupil than any other country in the world.”

“I want to close the Department of Education — move education back to the states…” Trump told the Tesla CEO and X/Twitter owner.

In July 2024, Trump said:

And one other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C. and sending all education and education work and needs back to the States. We want them to run the education of our children, because they’ll do a much better job of it. You can’t do worse. We spend more money per pupil, by three times, than any other nation. And yet we’re absolutely at the bottom. We’re one of the worst. So you can’t do worse. We’re going to end education coming out of Washington D.C. We’re going to close it up — all those buildings all over the place, and [you have] people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the States.

A new survey from PDE found a majority of U.S. parents support “reducing the size and influence of the U.S. Department of Education.” The poll also found that 77 percent of parents support “a U.S. Department of Education that allows states to have more flexibility on how they run their school districts.” That sentiment is backed by a strong majority of parents of all political affiliations, including 85 percent of Republican parents, 77 percent of independent parents, and 67 percent of Democrat parents.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.