Secretary McMahon on Leading a Department Being Eliminated: Education Should Be Tailored to Communities, March 24, 2025
March 24, 2025 · The White House · 0:01:26
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
President Donald Trump introduced Education Secretary Linda McMahon in remarks the White House posted on March 24, 2025, saying, as he stated it, that he chose her because she is an extraordinary person and that hopefully she will be the last Secretary of Education, presiding over something important and finding something else to do afterward, according to the White House recording. McMahon addressed, as she stated the question put to her, why she would want to be secretary of a department that is going to be done away with — in her words, as the recording captures them, firing herself. She said, as she and the President both stated the shared belief, that education should be tailored to communities, that parents should have involvement, and that local superintendents working with teachers should operate with full transparency on curriculum.
McMahon said, as she stated it, that the President signed an executive order to shut down the Department of Education and have her be its last secretary, that he made very clear Pell Grants and funding for students with special needs will all continue, and that the functions will operate more efficiently when governors, state departments of education, superintendents, and parents have more input into students’ education — a position she said she believes as well.
Why it matters
The clip is the administration’s shutdown-of-the-department case stated by the two people executing it: the President who signed the order and the secretary who, by her own description, took the job to end it — with the stated carve-outs for Pell Grants and special-needs funding on the record.
Scoreboard watch
McMahon’s statement that the executive order shuts down the Department of Education while Pell Grants and special-needs funding continue, as stated on March 24, 2025, is a dated, checkable commitment flagged for the scoreboard editor. No verdict is published from this page.
Sources: The White House, “Sec of Education Linda McMahon explains why she would want to lead an agency that’s being eliminated”, 2025-03-24 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-03-24). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.
On this page