Linda McMahon at ASU+GSV 2025 “I’m Very Interested in New Learning Technologies”
- Linda McMahon, US Secretary of Education, emphasized her interest in new learning technologies that stimulate kids, rather than bureaucracy.
- McMahon defended the Trump administration’s cuts to federal education staff, including eliminating the Department of Education, as a necessary step to reform the system and prioritize student success.
- The Secretary of Education proposed distributing financial aid to state levels, as 90% of public school budgets already come from state and local sources.
- McMahon acknowledged that her department would consider revamping the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) following a significant staff reduction, which dropped from 170 to 20 employees.
- The US Secretary of Education stressed the importance of having an educated workforce in the world, stating that failure to do so would lead to continued inefficiencies and stagnation.
Miguel Amigot, IBL News | San Diego
“I’m very interested in new technologies that stimulate kids and not in bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.; in fact, our goal is to eliminate bureaucracy,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon yesterday in San Diego, during the ASU+GSV 2025 ed-tech conference.
Addressing a packed auditorium at the event, Linda McMahon acknowledged, “I don’t have the blueprint for the best technology.”
“I know we will fail if we don’t have the best educated workforce in the world.”
The U.S. Secretary of Education McMahon defended the Trump administration’s large-scale cuts to federal education staff, including the intended elimination of the Department of Education, as steps to remedy a system that fails students.
“We’ve just gotten to a point that we just can’t keep going along doing what we’re doing,” she said. “Let’s shake it up. Let’s do something different.”
This shakeup involves distributing financial aid to the state level.
The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that 90 percent of public school budgets already come from state and local sources.
The Secretary of Education promised attendees at ASU+GSV that her department would consider ways to revamp the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) following a 90 percent reduction in staff last month, dropping from 170 to 20.