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(NewsNation) — Through 100 days, President Trump has delivered on his promise to shake up America’s education system.
The president appointed longtime associate Linda McMahon as the secretary of education, a role the pair hoped would be temporary given Trump’s desire to dismantle her department.
Trump signed executive orders Wednesday that impact K-12 schools regarding discipline and college accreditation systems.
President Trump has had several battles with colleges, most notably Harvard and Columbia.
Linda McMahon’s role
In November, Trump announced McMahon would serve as the secretary of Education, and four months later, the Senate confirmed her appointment.
Trump has said on several occasions that he wants McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”
Speaking to NewsNation last month, McMahon said her “mission” of dissolving the department has not changed — but even if the department shuts down, she said federal funding isn’t expected to end.
McMahon cited declining test scores and rising departmental costs as the primary reasons for closing the department.
The Education Department sent an email to employees Feb. 28 offering a $25,000 cash payout if they resigned by Monday, March 3, at midnight.
McMahon told NewsNation that “over 300 people” accepted the payout during the four-day window.
Taking on colleges over alleged antisemitism
During his first months in the White House, the president signed an executive order in an attempt to combat antisemitism.
Beyond that, Columbia agreed to put its Middle East Studies department under new supervision and overhaul its rules for protests and student discipline, acquiescing to an ultimatum by the Trump administration to implement those and other changes or risk losing billions of dollars in federal funding.
As part of the sweeping reforms, the university said it would also adopt a new definition of antisemitism and expand “intellectual diversity” by staffing up its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies.
In February, the Trump administration opened antisemitism inquiries against five schools: Columbia; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; Northwestern University and Portland State University.
Trump has also had a long-running battle with Harvard University, describing the Ivy League school as a “threat to democracy.”
Harvard sued the Trump administration after it cut billions of dollars in federal funding after rejecting demands to eradicate its DEI practices as well as hiring and admission practices.
Removing DEI from K-12 schools
President Trump signed executive orders on Jan. 20 banning diversity practices across the federal government and educational institutions, with many private companies also reversing their DEI-related programs.
The U.S. Department of Education ordered state and K-12 school district leaders to certify “compliance with their antidiscrimination obligations,” which the Trump administration argued was violated by DEI programs that “advantage one race over another.”
Thursday was the deadline, with noncompliant states and districts at risk of losing federal funding. Before the deadline, 16 states had refused to comply.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.