On March 3, the full Senate confirmed Linda McMahon as President Trump’s new Secretary of Education with a 51-45 vote along party lines. In a report about her confirmation, The Hill opined that “McMahon will have to catch up quickly, as the Department of Education has undergone multiple changes in the roughly six weeks since Trump took office.” Indeed she will, as her boss on March 20 signed an executive order calling for the shutdown of the department “except for certain critical functions.”

This latest development is hardly news to McMahon, who has declared her support for Trump’s position, explaining during her confirmation hearing how she envisions a shutdown could work. She emphasized that closing the department “wouldn’t mean eliminating its funding,” and pledged to present a plan “that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with.”

Trump’s latest executive action impacting education indicates that the department would continue to maintain responsibility for Title I funding for low-income schools, Pell Grants, and the management of student loans, at least until such time as these programs can be moved to other agencies. However, on March 21, the president stated that the student loan portfolio would be moved to the Small Business Administration (SBA).

During her confirmation hearing, McMahon reiterated that defunding such programs “is not the goal here.” She said that, on the contrary, “I’d actually even like to see an expansion of Pell Grants. I’d like to see short-term certificates ... for students who aren’t going on to four-year universities, who could have the opportunity to use Pell Grants for skill-based learning.”

Shocking overspending revealed

A Fox News story recently described “an alarming trend” uncovered by the fiscal watchdog group Open The Books. The organization’s research shows that staff levels at the Department of Education “have decreased since 2000, but the agency’s spending grew by 749%.” Despite this meteoric rise in spending, student NAEP scores have continued to plummet, as Education Reporter described just last month.

In response to the 20-year lows in reading and math scores revealed by the NAEP, the Trump Administration placed the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Peggy Carr, on leave. While [as yet] not an official termination, Carr’s dismissal came less than a month after the dismal NAEP results were released.

Appointed by the Biden Administration, Carr admitted when the NAEP results came out that the news was “not good.” The only positive sign —marginal at best— was a “slight” improvement in fourth-grade math scores. But as Open The Books’ data on the Department of Education shows, there has been no such decline in federal education spending.

The group’s research on the ed department “is part of a wider initiative to chart agency outlays versus agency spending in an effort to provide the public with ‘a clearer picture of the government as it stands.’” The group’s CEO, John Hart, told Fox News Digital:

• In many federal agencies, spending has outpaced not just inflation but also growing headcounts — often many times over. This begs an important question: Where is the money going? Taxpayers deserve to see the growth in spending in each agency so they can decide how many we need ... If the excessive waste and fraud we’ve uncovered over the years — and DOGE is highlighting — is any guide, taxpayers may be better served by far fewer than 441 agencies, including the ones that are defunct.

In its quest for transparency, Open The Books has investigated 50 federal agencies thus far, often with shocking results: for example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Agency for International Development (USAID). The group found that FEMA’s staffing levels reached “roughly 290% over the last quarter-century,” while spending grew “seven times faster at a rate of 2,096%.” At USAID, “staffing levels grew roughly 218% while spending grew about 468%.”

Open The Books charts government data as far back as it goes and makes its reports accessible to the public. The group will continue to publish relevant data as it moves forward with its analyses of federal agencies.

Ed Department fallout

In addition to President Trump’s latest EO abolishing the Department of Education, one of his previous executive orders prioritizes states with school choice options when awarding education-related grants. Newsweek reported that 15 U.S. states and the District of Columbia “have at least one universal private school choice program, which allows families to use taxpayer-funded education money to attend private schools, be homeschooled, or seek options other than local public schools.” At least 14 other states have “at least one private school choice program.”

While opponents whine that such programs penalize lower-income students, these are precisely the kids most choice programs are primarily designed to help. The NAEP results alone demonstrate that traditional public schooling is not helping disadvantaged kids.

NEA President Becky Pringle told Fox News that special needs students “won’t have the services they need” if federal education spending is curtailed. She employed the familiar excuse that “students who have more resources do better,” dismissing the reality of the NAEP results, as if the billions of dollars poured into public education since the Education Department’s creation have improved student outcomes at any level.

Newsweek reported that, according to an Education Week analysis, a total of 20 states “have tax-credit scholarships, 16 have Education Savings Accounts, 10 plus the District of Columbia have vouchers, five have direct tax credits and two have tax-credit educations savings accounts.”

In January, Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House reintroduced the Educational Choice for Children Act, which was originally introduced in 2022 by Sens. Tim Scott of SC, Bill Cassidy of LA, Steve Daines of MT, and Todd Young of IN. Reps. Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Burgess Owens (R-UT), and Sen. Bill Cassidy reintroduced the bicameral legislation, which would provide “a charitable donation incentive for individuals and businesses to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 public and private education.”

The bill’s 30 co-sponsors in the House are promising to make it “ a top priority for the 119th Congress.” Rep. Owens said the Act “puts power where it belongs—in the hands of families, not bureaucracies.” He explained that it will allow “millions of students nationwide to access scholarships for tuition, books, and supplies—whether they’re in public school, private school, or learning at home. The days of tolerating a one-size-fits-all system that traps students in mediocrity are over. We will keep fighting to ensure that every child has a future filled with hope, opportunity, and the tools to achieve their American Dream, regardless of their race, income, or zip code.”

If passed, the law would provide $10 billion in annual tax credits for taxpayers, to be administered by the U.S. Treasury Department, with a base amount provided to each state and the tax credits distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

It was amid this uncertainty that Linda McMahon took the wheel of the rapidly sinking ship that is the U.S. Department of Education. At the very least, it will be drastically cut back. She said recently: “Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make the best educational choices for their children. An effective transfer of educational oversight to the states will mean more autonomy for local communities. Teachers, too, will benefit from less micromanagement in the classroom—enabling them to get back to basics.”

More details will doubtless be forthcoming as to which responsibilities will remain with the education department until it is completely dissolved should that take place, and which will be handed off more quickly to other agencies. Education Reporter will continue to follow this important story.

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