Trump Sec. of Education backs plan to abolish DoE

When Donald Trump nominated Linda McMahon as his Secretary of Education, I was a bit stunned.

McMahon is a major donor for Trump, but she has virtually no educational experience, save a short stint on a local school board, which she left after only a few months to make a run for office.

It turns out you don’t need much educational experience if your job is to dismantle the department.

Eliminate It

McMahon is one of those appointments I would have needed convincing if I was a GOP Senator.

I do not believe in rubber-stamping anyone, as I would surely want to make sure that everyone being assigned to a post was qualified for that post.

McMahon has virtually no credentials as an educator, but that will not be her purpose here, so that is more or less irrelevant.

Her main goal is to accomplish Trump’s wish to dismantle the Department of Education.

When she was asked about backing Trump’s plan, she responded, “President Trump believes that the bureaucracy in Washington should be abolished so that we can return education to the states, where it belongs.

“I wholeheartedly support and agree with this mission.”

Trump has been adamant from day one that he wants to dismantle this department and return it to individual states, where he believes they can do a much better job.

This does not necessarily mean federal funding for education will be ended, but rather diverted to the states to use as they see fit.

Trump stated, "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.”

The Department of Education was created in 1979 during the Carter administration, and it has been targeted by the GOP for elimination ever since.

Ronald Reagan attempted to do it, but he could never get the support in Congress.

Trump has expressed interest in using an executive order to end it, but that would be challenged in court and he would likely lose.

If Trump cannot get this through Congress, and it seems unlikely that he will be able to do that, McMahon will be tasked with gutting the agency to a small core of positions that would likely support the states.

I am for this, as I think the federal government has done a horrible job of regulating education in this country, but I am just really curious to see how this all plays out.