Author: BelieveAgain
President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Linda McMahon to serve as secretary of education comes after months of campaign promises to broaden families’ access to public money for private school tuition, increase parents’ control over schools, and abolish the U.S. Department of Education.McMahon, 76, is a wealthy businesswoman who founded and served as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. She beat out more public-facing, vocal advocates of Trump’s education causes who have garnered national headlines. But she’s proven herself to be an ideological ally of Trump’s, who has steadfastly supported him since his first run for office in 2016, including as a…
Linda McMahon, the co-chair of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team who spent much of her career as a pro-wrestling executive, is the incoming president’s choice to serve as secretary of education, the transition team announced Tuesday.McMahon, 76, is a longtime friend and early supporter of Trump’s who served as head of the Small Business Administration during the Republican’s first term. She stepped down from the SBA in 2019 to lead the America First Action PAC in support of Trump’s reelection. She was reportedly in the running to serve as commerce secretary before Trump chose McMahon’s fellow transition co-chair, Howard Lutnick,…
If you or anyone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm or suicide, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the confidential National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or check out these resources from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.An Oklahoma district’s “inconsistent” response to sexual-harassment reports—including in the case of a nonbinary teen who died by suicide after they said they were attacked in a school restroom and bullied for their appearance—was “deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights,” the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights found in an investigation it started last winter.The Feb. 8 death…
Oklahoma’s education superintendent has sent an email to public school superintendents requiring them to show students his video announcement of a new Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism within the state Department of Education.Ryan Walters, a Republican, announced the new office on Wednesday and on Thursday sent the email to school superintendents statewide.“In one of the first steps of the newly created department, we are requiring all of Oklahoma schools to play the attached video to all kids that are enrolled,” according to the email.Districts were also told to send the video to all parents of students.In the video, Walters…
President-elect Donald Trump ran on a pledge to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. After his election victory, a flood of educators and activists have asked the same question: Can he really do that?The short answer: It’s possible, but he couldn’t do it alone. Members of Congress would have to approve a plan to reorganize federal agencies, and Trump would face a lot of hurdles in winning their support.And even if the agency closed, its responsibilities—like administering Title I funding, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and student loans—would be transferred to other federal agencies. Conservative pledges to shut down…
A Health and Human Services Department under vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could pull several different levers that result in weakened school vaccination requirements, even though those are set by states.Even if the incoming Trump administration doesn’t make concrete policy moves aimed at weakening vaccination requirements or discouraging vaccines, Kennedy and other health officials aligned with the incoming president have the bully pulpit to further undermine confidence in vaccines at a time when immunization rates have been slipping, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association.“He can begin as secretary speaking negatively about vaccines,…
President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine, and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment. Kennedy, he said, would “Make America Great and…
For months on the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump pledged to take money from school districts that teach critical race theory, champion a version of American history he sees as unpatriotic, or promote supportive policies and instructional practices for transgender students.In fact, Trump said he would sign an executive order on his very first day back in office to that effect.“We are going to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content onto the shoulders of our children,” Trump said at a July campaign event in Minnesota. “And…
A federal judge has blocked a Louisiana law that was soon to require a display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom in the state, ruling that it is likely unconstitutional and is similar to another state’s law struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980.The Louisiana law, H.B. 71, “is impermissible under Stone v. Graham,” said U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles of Baton Rouge, referring to the high court decision that struck down a similar Kentucky law that required displays of the Ten Commandments.The judge noted that both laws required such displays on the wall…
President-elect Donald Trump enlisted a star-powered new staffer to mastermind his bid to abolish the U.S. Department of Education: Billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk.Musk’s new role as a chief architect of Trump’s plan to slash and remake the federal government may also have big implications for schools use of technology, treatment of transgender students, work related to kids’ social media use, and what schools’ STEM and career and technical education programs might look like. Trump on Nov. 12 tapped Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and the owner of X (the social media company formerly known as Twitter) to head…