‘RIP Department of Education’: Donald Trump’s DOE head Linda McMahon bodyslams department’s future in introductory email to staff

President Donald Trump‘s newly-minted Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the quiet part out loud in an introductory email to staff, indicating Trump’s threats to abolish the federal agency should be taken seriously, according to a Facebook post from the Alt National Park Service.

News of McMahon’s email came a day after she was approved as Department of Education head in a 51-45 vote along party lines. Trump ran on abolishing the federal agency, as was also outlined in Project 2025, a blueprint for Trump’s second term.

At her confirmation hearing, McMahon affirmed that her “boss” Trump wanted the agency, formed in 1979, “closed immediately,” USA Today reported. McMahon, WWE co-founder Vince McMahon’s estranged wife, later conceded that only the GOP-controlled Congress can abolish federal agencies.

An “historic” final mission

Multiple reports, including an Alt National Parks social media post, established for anti-Trump messaging in his first term, have now emerged that McMahon wasted no time on the first day of her job, warning DOE staff the end was coming in an introductory email. In their post, Alt National Parks summed up what she said,

RIP U.S. Department of Education. Education Secretary Linda McMahon introduced herself to department employees with an email calling on them to join her in a ‘historic final mission’ to downsize the agency and shift control to the states. While she emphasized returning power to local governments, she also echoed Trump’s call for the federal government to police what schools are teaching. Not sure how you return power but then don’t return all of it.”

According to The Hill, McMahon reportedly also called Trump’s promise to shutter the DOE one of the  “most momentous” of the campaign, adding her plan would “send education back to the states.”  The email added,

This restoration will profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations here at the Department. In coming months, we will partner with Congress and other federal agencies to determine the best path forward to fulfill the expectations of the President and the American people. We will eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy so that our colleges, K-12 schools, students, and teachers can innovate and thrive.”

In her staff email, McMahon also outlined several tentpoles as DOE leader, including taxpayer-funded schools are only for “math and reading” not divisive DEI programs and gender ideology. Meanwhile, Mahon added that, under her purview, the purpose of post-secondary education was to support job creation and benefit the workforce.

McMahon supports Trump’s proposals to do away with critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion education in public schools, as well as school choice, or permitting private schools to receive public education funding, including religious institutions.

In the meantime, what American education might look like post-DOE is unclear. According to NBC News, Connecticut Democratic Representative Maryam Khan said there was no federal plan for what happens next. “If there’s just an implementation of something, all of a sudden, there’s no way any state can plan that quickly. There would be huge burdens on states to try to figure out something within a very small time frame.”

Referring to McMahon, now in charge of a federal agency she plans to close, Trump has said, “I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.'”