The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Education, to the role Monday evening.
The Senate voted 51-45 to confirm McMahon as the nation’s 13th secretary of education.
✅ CONFIRMED: Linda McMahon as the 13th Secretary of Education
FOLLOW: @EDSecMcMahon pic.twitter.com/N98ZzY1Qbl
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 3, 2025
McMahon was immediately sworn into the role by Jacqueline Clay, the Department of Education’s chief human capital officer, shortly after the Senate vote was confirmed.
“I am deeply grateful to President Trump for his trust in me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Education. I am prepared to lead the Department in this transformational time and embrace the challenge to improve the education system for the more than 100 million children and college students who deserve better,” McMahon said in a statement upon being sworn in on Monday.
Moving forward in her new role as education secretary, McMahon said she intends to “make good” on Trump’s promise to “make American education the best in the world, return education to the states where it belongs, and free American students from the education bureaucracy through school choice.”
It’s an honor to serve as the 13th Secretary of Education under President Trump.
@POTUS pledged to make U.S. education the best in the world, return education to the states, and free students frombureaucracy through school choice.I intend to make good on those promises. pic.twitter.com/KgZ6K7IuQB
— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) March 3, 2025
“Education is the issue that determines our national success and prepares American workers to win the future. Every decision made at the Department will be driven by a commitment to support meaningful learning and empower our most important stakeholders: students, families, and teachers. The Department will be focused on advancing education freedom, not building up government-run systems. We will empower states and districts to have more say in what is working on the ground for students instead of bureaucratic edicts from Washington, D.C.,” McMahon added.
McMahon’s new role in the second Trump administration follows her leadership of the president’s Small Business Administration during his first term.
During her confirmation hearing last month in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, McMahon said the current federal education system is “in decline,” pointing to the latest scores from the Nation’s Report Card which showed achievement in K-12 math and reading at their lowest levels since 1971; violent crime on college campuses; and the rise in student suicide rates.
“In many cases, our wounds are caused by the excessive consolidation of power in our federal education establishment. The remedy? Fund education freedom, not government-run systems. Listen to parents, not politicians. Build up careers, not college debt. Empower states, not special interests. Invest in teachers, not Washington bureaucrats,” McMahon said during her confirmation hearing.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
