President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will nominate Linda McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul and champion of small businesses with minimal college experience, as Secretary of Education.

The appointment of McMahon, a major Republican donor, surprised many education experts. She was not on the Trump transition team’s short list of education secretary candidates, an informed source said, and many had expected leading opponents of diversity and equity programs to be tapped for the job, including state superintendents of Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Trump in his announcement touted McMahon’s “decades of leadership experience” and said she would push for what he called parents’ rights, including the ability to use taxpayer-funded vouchers to send children to any school, publicly or private. He also said she would spearhead efforts to “send education BACK TO THE STATES,” possibly referring to previous promises to dismantle the federal Ministry of Education.

“Linda has been a fierce advocate for parents’ rights … giving children the opportunity to receive an excellent education regardless of zip code or income,” Trump said in a statement. “As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every state in America, empowering parents to make the best education decisions for their families.”

The backlash was swift – and divided – over McMahon, who reportedly wanted the job of Secretary of Commerce but lost out to Wall Street investor Howard Lutnick.

She will lead the Trump administration’s education policies, which could reform federal financial aid, federal research funding and civil rights for LGBTQ+ people and those accused of sexual assault. Trump is also expected to reverse President Biden’s student loan forgiveness efforts.

Other areas of potential scrutiny include protecting the jobs of teachers in elementary schools and Head Start preschools.

In Sacramento, Gov. Gavin Newsom told The Times he knew little about McMahon other than her background as a wealthy Trump donor who comes from a family of entertainers.

“I have no idea of ​​her educational credentials, and I have not heard her express a view that gives me much confidence that it is anything other than a reward for political support,” he said.

Shaun Harper, professor of education, public policy and business at USC, denounced the nomination. “America’s schoolchildren and college students deserve a Secretary of Education who brings deep educational experience to this position,” he said. “Instead, they got a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive. This is shameful and a slap in the face to our country’s talented educators.”

Others praised Trump’s choice.

Madison Miner, president of Moms for Liberty of Orange County, a conservative organization that opposes curricula on LGBTQ+ rights, race and ethnicity, called McMahon a “great choice.”

“She is an advocate for the rights of parents and the protection of children,” Miner said. “She will make a huge difference in our education department. … I would like all parents to have rights over their children.”

Chino Valley Unified School District board chair Sonja Shaw, who has become a national figure among conservative parents and school leaders, said McMahon’s appointment appears to be a strategic move.

“She has proven her ability to manage money and run a business, and now she has the opportunity to redirect funding where it really belongs: back to the classrooms, with an emphasis on the basics like reading, writing and math,” Shaw said. “Resources have been wasted on bureaucracy and, far too often, on indoctrination rather than giving students the skills they need to succeed.”

Some expressed a more cautious view of her selection.

Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a right-wing think tank, praised McMahon’s leadership experience but said giving her the teaching portfolio as a “consolation prize” for missing out on the trading job was the “low priority” of Trump. places in the field of education.

Jason Altmire, president of Career Education Colleges and Universities, which represents 1,300 for-profit campuses in North America, said he was optimistic that McMahon would lead the department to take a more “reasoned and thoughtful approach to addressing many of the overreaching and punitive regulations. put forward by the Biden administration, especially those targeting private vocational schools.”

Rick Hess, an education expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he was also unfamiliar with McMahon but cautioned against snap judgments.

“Those seeking reflexive celebration or condemnation should look elsewhere,” he said. Referring to current and former education secretaries, he added: “After the admirable achievements of ‘outsider’ Betsy DeVos and the profound incompetence of veteran school principal Miguel Cardona, I would avoid making gross assumptions based on biography.” DeVos served as Secretary of Education during Trump’s first administration, and Cardona currently holds the position.

McMahon served two years on the Connecticut Board of Education and was a board member of Sacred Heart University, a Catholic school in Connecticut. McMahon, who was born a Baptist and converted to Catholicism, has significantly more business experience, including serving as the longtime CEO and president of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

Her husband, Vince, founded the company and became a household name when televised commercial wrestling exploded in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. McMahon also ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate twice, losing to Connecticut Democrats Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and to Christopher S. Murphy in 2012.

During his first term, Trump tapped McMahon to lead the Small Business Administration. When she resigned in 2019, she did so on good terms with Trump — unlike many other appointees — and later became president of the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-affiliated policy think tank.

Although McMahon’s views on many current education issues are not well known, the institute’s website focuses its priorities on “school choice,” parental approval of curriculum, basic skills and “teaching the truth about American history.”

“Today’s controversial debates over the use of classrooms for political activism rather than teaching a full and accurate account of American history have revived calls for greater parental and citizen involvement in the curriculum approval process breathed in,” the site says about the curriculum.

About the history curriculum, the website says: “Racially divisive policies and theories and false teachings of America’s founding father indoctrinate America’s youth with an anti-American ideology instead of preparing them for engaged citizenship by teaching rigorous topics.” The section focuses directly on the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which connects the founding of the United States to its history of slavery and racism.

The institute also notes: “Many high school graduates finish school without knowing how to budget, balance a checkbook, read bank statements or make savings plans.”

If McMahon joins the America First Policy Institute and its associated super PAC, “it appears that ending DEI and accreditation reform are at the top of her list, along with promoting job education,” says John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow and research professor of public policy and higher education at the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education.

A key question is whether Trump will direct McMahon to move forward with his desire to weaken — or eliminate — the Department of Education, which would require an act of Congress.

Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, warned that Trump officials who do so “should prepare for a lot of resistance because the public generally supports public education, especially in rural areas.”

Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said he looked forward to working with McMahon.

“Higher education and our colleges and universities work hard every day to build America and improve lives,” he said in a statement. “Ensuring college access and affordability, supporting student success, and advancing cutting-edge research that saves lives and protects our national security are just some of the shared priorities we look forward to in the coming months with Secretary-designate McMahon and her team. at the Ministry of Education.”

David Goldberg, California Teachers Assn. The US president said the nation’s public schools are facing a critical juncture: They need more money for safe and stable learning environments, higher wages for teachers and more support for students with special needs.

“We need a Secretary of Education who understands these issues and is willing to work with educators to secure more resources for public schools and protect the institution of public education,” he said. “Our students and communities deserve no less.”