在寻求成为国家教育部最终领导人的过程中，琳达·麦克马洪采取了重大措施，以实现唐纳德·特朗普总统关闭该机构的目标。
自从她在三月初获得参议院批准后，教育部长就被指示使用法律允许的所有必要措施解散教育部，教育部官员声称她正在使用自己的广泛权力这样做。这一授权包括从与能够共同管理该部门职责的机构合作，到通过将工作人员削减近一半来严重削弱该机构的劳动力。
一年前的周三，当时的当选总统特朗普称赞了麦克马洪的专业知识，让这位前WWE首席执行官和女商人将教育带回美国，并让自己失业。
“琳达将利用她几十年的领导经验，以及对教育和商业的深刻理解，赋予下一代美国学生和工人权力，使美国成为世界上教育领域的第一名，”总统的官方声明中写道。“我们将把教育送回美国，琳达将带头努力，”他说。
麦克马洪领导了实现特朗普承诺的关键努力。部长关闭了专门处理民权投诉并负责调查校内歧视的区域办事处;解雇了联邦学生援助办公室的几十名员工，该办公室帮助学生完成中学后教育，并处理1.6万亿美元的学生贷款组合;她继续探索将这些法定职能和其他职能转移到不同的合作机构的方法，如管理为残疾儿童提供免费和适当教育的《残疾人教育法》(IDEA)。
在过去的几个月里，为了减少繁文缛节和华盛顿的官僚主义，这个最小的内阁级机构已经被彻底改变了，但批评人士表示，其影响远远不止裁员。美国教师联合会主席兰迪·温加滕等教育倡导者认为，这些变化对学生造成了直接伤害，并可能对未来几代人产生重大影响。温加滕告诉美国广播公司新闻，特朗普政府“基本上正在远离国家的未来。”
“特朗普说的是‘我要摆脱教育部’，”温加滕告诉美国广播公司新闻频道，并补充说，“他明确表示，现在唯一真正处理儿童问题的部门——他说‘我想摆脱’。”那是对未来的放弃。那是放弃责任。"
与此同时，教育自由的捍卫者，如自由主义智库卡托研究所的尼尔·麦克卢斯基，称赞麦克马洪关闭该部门的努力，因为他认为它不应该存在。
麦克劳斯基在给美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中写道:“宪法没有授予联邦政府管理教育的权力，该部门也没有实际成功的记录。”
麦克马洪说，教育系统应该更有效地工作，权力应该还给那些最接近学生的人，如父母和当地教育机构。她继续在50个州巡回，回顾州一级的最佳教育实践，并与当地领导人合作，在全国范围内推广这些实践。麦克马洪还致力于将部门改革编纂成法律。
为了做到这一点，共和党众议员弗吉尼亚·福克斯说，麦克马洪将“不得不来国会。”然而，福克斯强烈支持麦克马洪正在做的工作，以揭露他们所谓的失败机构，怀疑者认为没有解决学生成绩的结果。
“她在向美国人民指出教育部是多么无用，”福克斯告诉美国广播公司新闻。“这比没用还糟糕。这(对学生)造成了损害，所以通过将物品转移到其他部门，她正在慢慢拆除这个部门，并展示为什么不需要它。”
安迪·金是希望阻止麦克马洪确认的45名民主党参议员之一，他认为联邦政府应该为学生提供额外的支持和机会，而不是取消政府的支持。他称部长关闭该机构的工作是“不负责任的”
“这表明他们(特朗普政府)在我们如何给我们的孩子提供他们成长所需的工具方面有多么具有破坏性，”金告诉美国广播公司新闻。
How is Linda McMahon making good on Trump’s promise to close the Department of Education?
In her quest to become the nation's final leader of the Department of Education, Linda McMahon has taken major steps to accomplish President Donald Trump's goal of shuttering the agency.
Since her Senate confirmation in early March, the secretary has been directed to dissolve the department using all necessary steps permitted by law and Education Department officials claim she is using her broad authority to do so. This mandate has included everything from partnering with agencies that can co-manage the department's responsibilities to severely gutting the agency's workforce by slicing its staff nearly in half.
A year ago Wednesday, then-President elect Trump praised McMahon's expertise, tapping the former WWE CEO and businesswoman to return education to the states and put herself out of a job.
"Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World," the president's official statement read. "We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort," he noted.
McMahon has led critical efforts to make good on Trump's pledge. The secretary has closed regional offices dedicated to civil rights complaints and tasked with investigating discrimination within schools; fired dozens of employees within the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office, which helps students achieve postsecondary education and handles a $1.6 trillion portfolio of student loans; and she continues to explore ways to move those statutory functions and others, like administering the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which creates a free and appropriate education for children with disabilities, to separate partner agencies.
Over the past several months, the smallest Cabinet-level agency has been turned on its head in an effort to cut red tape and reduce Washington bureaucracy, but critics say the impact goes much further than reductions in the workforce. These changes are causing an immediate harm to students and could potentially be consequential for generations to come, according to education advocates like American Federation of Teachers President (AFT) Randi Weingarten. Weingarten told ABC News that the Trump administration is "basically walking away from the future of the country."
"What Trump says is 'I'm getting rid of the Department of Education,'" Weingarten told ABC News, adding "He's making it clear that the only department that actually deals with children now – he says 'I want to get rid of.' That's an abandonment of the future. That's an abdication of responsibility."
Meanwhile, defenders of education freedom, like Neal McCluskey at libertarian think-tank the Cato Institute, applaud McMahon's efforts to shutter the department because he believes it should not exist.
"The Constitution gives the federal government no authority to govern in education and the department has no track record of practical success," McCluskey wrote in a statement to ABC News.
McMahon has said the education system should work more efficiently and power should be given back to those closest to school children, like parents and local education agencies. She is continuing a 50-state tour to review the best educational practices on the state level and working with local leaders to scale those practices nationwide. McMahon is also working to codify department changes into law.
In order to do so, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said McMahon will "have to come to Congress." However, Foxx strongly supports the job McMahon is doing to expose the what they call a failing agency that skeptics argue hasn't addressed student achievement outcomes.
"She's pointing out to the American people how useless the Department of Education is," Foxx told ABC News. "It's worse than useless. It creates damages [to students], so by moving items into other departments she's slowly dismantling the department and showing why it's not needed."
Andy Kim, one of the 45 Democratic senators who hoped to block McMahon's confirmation, argued that the federal government should be providing additional support and opportunities to students -- not taking that government support away. He called the secretary's work to close the agency "irresponsible."
"It shows just how destructive they've [the Trump administration] been in terms of how we can give our kids, you know, the kind of tools they need to grow," Kim told ABC News.
