The 19th: Linda McMahon is the new education secretary — but the department’s future isn’t guaranteed

March 3. 2025

Managing Attorney for Ending Sexual Violence in Education Maha Ibrahim was interviewed by The 19th about the confirmation of Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education.

Maha Ibrahim, a senior attorney for Equal Rights Advocates, which fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools nationwide, said that closing the Department of Education is just one of the organization’s concerns about McMahon. Her lack of experience, Ibrahim said, makes her “uniquely unqualified” to take on the role.

“Sadly, this is a trend we’re seeing across nominations, people with no experience whose only real, stated or evident qualification is their willingness to be the grim reapers of the very departments they’re put in charge of to help this administration dismantle rights and agencies that we have built and relied on for decades,” she said.

Ibrahim also raised concerns about a lawsuit accusing McMahon and her husband of ignoring a WWE employee’s sexual abuse of the underage “ring boys” who set up and broke down wrestling rings in the 1980s and ’90s. McMahon’s lawyer has denied the allegations against her client.

“Given that the Department of Education is tasked with the gender equity, access and protection of 50 million public school students, it’s very troubling that, within her own business, she has [allegedly] ignored reports of sexual harm and assault,” Ibrahim said. …

“We’re very afraid that the appointment of Linda McMahon will amount to a coordinated resegregation of public schools by taking money out of poor communities and putting it in the hands of rich parents to further ensure that those students will never have the opportunity to complete their education, to get an equal education, to attend higher education,” Ibrahim said.