Advancement Project Reaction to Education Secretary Confirmation
March 3, 2025
Washington, DC – In response to news that Linda McMahon has been confirmed as the next Secretary of Education, Advancement Project executive director Judith Browne Dianis issued this statement:
“The confirmation of Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education puts working class families and communities of color in peril, leaving them with fewer resources and support.
Case in point: Linda McMahon plans to dismantle public education, which threatens the quality of education received by Black, Latine, Indigenous, and other young people of color. If successful, this plan will replace public schools that serve all students with private schools that select the students they want to educate and segregate students by race and religion – taking us back to the days before Brown v. Board of Education.
The Department of Education protects public school students from discrimination and provides funding to overcome resource deficits in poorer school districts. Under McMahon’s plans, federal education dollars will be diverted to private schools instead of public schools. She has also dodged questions about whether schools can teach inclusive, accurate US and world histories or celebrate the accomplishments of people of color — measures that are necessary to keep white Christian nationalist propaganda from flourishing in all public schools, universities, and federal programs.
These acts will end public education as we know it and as we have fought for it to be. This will have catastrophic effects for millions of families as well as our country as a whole. We cannot afford to take this lying down. We need public schools and we need them to be fully funded and resourced.”
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Advancement Project is a next-generation, multi-racial civil rights organization. Rooted in the great human rights struggles for equality and justice, we exist to fulfill America’s promise of a caring, inclusive and just democracy. We use innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high impact policy change. We are a co-convener of the National Campaign for Police Free schools, a formation of 20+ youth-led grassroots organizations fighting to end the criminalization of youth in the classroom, create liberatory educational spaces, and implement an affirmative vision of safety and transformative justice.Visit www.advancementproject.org to learn more.
