Statement on Confirmation of Linda McMahon As DOE Secretary

Statement from Daniela Ochoa Diaz, Senior Director of Policy at URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, on the confirmation of Linda McMahon to be Secretary of the Department of Education. 

“Today, the Senate voted to confirm Linda McMahon as Secretary of the Department of Education, a position that manages the federal student loan portfolio, supports districts serving students with disabilities, and provides money to help districts in lower-income communities. We are disappointed in this unqualified confirmation to a leadership role which will have a direct impact on the lives of so many young people of this country.    

With this confirmation, we are concerned about the looming threat of McMahon’s very public support of the ban on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) resulting in loss of federal funding if schools don’t comply quickly, gutting public education funds, and dissolving the Department of Education. If implemented these actions will cause unnecessary harms to the students, families, and to our communities.  

The young people of this country deserve to have an Education Secretary who is willing to commit to protecting them throughout their education and to reaching their full potential, not have their education watered down and taken from them to provide tax cuts for the wealthy. We condemn this confirmation: Linda McMahon is not fit to be Secretary of Education.”