Education Secretary Linda McMahon has a clear message for California: Washington should step back from classrooms, parents must become more involved, and schools that withhold information from families could face serious consequences.
In an exclusive interview with The California Post during a stop on her “Returning Education to the States” tour, McMahon discussed California’s weak test results, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s education record and her effort to dismantle the federal department she oversees.
McMahon said declining academic performance is a nationwide concern, adding that President Trump gave her the task of addressing it when he offered her the position.
“I do believe that it’s because of the way we have been teaching our students,” she told The Post. “You cannot force education from the top down from Washington, D.C., because no one size fits all. What works best in the states is best decided at the state level, with parents working with teachers, governors and school officials being involved.”
She also urged parents to play a larger role in their children’s schooling, describing the greater involvement many families took on during the COVID-19 pandemic as a “silver lining.”
“Take on the mantle, go to the school and find out what your children are being taught and how you want them to be taught,” she said.
When asked to assess Newsom’s performance on education, McMahon replied, “There is a lot of room for improvement.”
The latest California education data shows that approximately six in 10 students are not proficient in math. About half also fall short of the state’s standards for reading proficiency.
McMahon separately criticized California’s policies concerning student gender identity information, warning that the state could face an aggressive federal response over rules that restrict what schools share with parents.
In January, the U.S. Education Department determined that California’s education agency was continuing to violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, the federal law that governs parents’ access to their children’s educational records.
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“For a state to keep that information from parents, to hide files and to not provide that information, it’s clearly against FERPA, and we will investigate and come after them hard,” she said.
The department said California had pressured schools to conceal students’ gender identities from their parents, pointing to AB 1955, a 2024 law that prohibits districts from requiring disclosure without a student’s consent. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has challenged the federal finding in court, while the state maintains that the law does not require schools to withhold the information.
“I challenge governors to make sure that they are on board to serve kids and not serve adults,” she said.
McMahon’s plan to return greater control of education to the states also calls for dismantling the federal Education Department. President Trump advanced that objective in a March 2025 executive order, though abolishing the agency entirely would require Congress to act.
“We are definitely working on our interagency agreements and moving the bodies of work out of the Department of Education. This is no small task,” McMahon told The Post as she discussed the eventual end of her role.
“We are making sure the policies, the grant money and all of the funding that is currently passing through the Department of Education will pass through these other agencies and get where it’s supposed to go, and children will be served better.”
The Education Department has entered into 14 agreements with six federal agencies, including the departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, State, Labor, Interior and Treasury. Under the arrangements, some K-12 and college grant programs are moving to the Labor Department, the federal student loan portfolio is shifting to Treasury, and certain special education and civil rights duties are being transferred to HHS and Justice.
Her message to lawmakers is a request for time to demonstrate the plan’s effectiveness: “I have said to them, let this be my proof of concept. Let me show you that it will work. I won’t ask for your vote until I show you how it will work.”
The department has also focused attention on the University of California system, where failure rates in introductory math courses for first-year students have continued to rise.
“It’s a troubling indictment of our education system that so many college students struggle with basic high school math,” department spokesperson Julie Hartman said.
“Dozens of institutions have recognized the value of standardized testing and reinstated the SAT/ACT. The UC system should follow suit,” Hartman added.