Past leaders of CPS show varied responses following confirmation hearing for Linda McMahon, WWE co-founder, as Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education

CHICAGO (WLS) — There has been a mixed reaction in Chicago to the potential secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

Linda McMahon, who President Donald Trump tapped to be his education secretary, is against the ropes on Capitol Hill.

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McMahon is the co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment. She was grilled by senators during her confirmation hearing Thursday.

And the Chicago Teachers Union is watching.

Members and education experts are concerned about the future of public schools, if McMahon gets the job.

The union and others are worried because McMahon is being hired to dismantle the Department of Education.

Two former Chicago Public Schools CEOs weighed in on the subject Thursday. One is concerned; the other is not.

The U.S. Department of Education was established under President Jimmy Carter, with over 4,000 employees. It is the federal government’s smallest department and Trump’s biggest target of all the cabinet agencies.

“I’d like it to be closed immediately; look, the Department of Education is a big con job,” Trump said.

Trump is hoping his secretary of Education nominee will put herself out of a job.

McMahon said she is onboard to close the Department of Education.

“I’m really all for the president’s mission, which is to return education to the states. I believe, as he does, that the best education is closest to the child,” McMahon said.

The department is responsible for several programs, including funding early childhood education, Pell Grants, civil rights protections, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known as IDEA. It is a law that guarantees public education for students with disabilities.

“What’s happening today is an assault on public education, and we can’t sugarcoat it. We can’t deny it. We can’t run from it,” former Secretary of Education and CPS CEO Arne Duncan said.

Duncan strongly opposes closing his former department and returning education to the states.

“Our state’s education was segregated until the federal government and troops came to change that; there was not some golden age of state control,” Duncan said.

On Thursday, McMahon told senators she is not sure if a Black history class would be allowed under the new administration.

Duncan, Democrats and the CTU fear Trump’s intention to close the department is not about streamlining government, but to hand public education over to private entities.

“We will be in a situation, children with IEPs, children who are bilingual will not longer get the services they need,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said.

But not all Chicago education experts think dismantling or downsizing the department is a bad idea.

Former CPS CEO Paul Vallas said the department’s programs can be absorbed under other cabinet agencies. As a school choice advocate, Vallas said states should determine how education dollars are spent.

“If you look at the academic performance of American students in the 50 years the department’s been in existence, it’s been pretty abysmal,” Vallas said.

Eliminating the Department of Education will require congressional approval. The same is required for removing all programs funded under the department.

McMahon said she will work with Congress to achieve the Trump administration’s goals.