Trump’s ed secretary in Michigan: States should embrace private school scholarships

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says Michigan should adopt a scholarship program that would allow more school choice
McMahon spoke at a Republican event in Midland after stops in Hillsdale and Detroit Monday
She criticized US colleges as a ‘broken’ system that ‘delivers disillusionment’

MIDLAND — In a tour throughout lower Michigan Monday, US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon advocated for scholarships that promote school choice and criticized American colleges and universities as on the decline.

She said she “just doesn’t understand” why governors like Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer wouldn’t opt into a federally backed, state-run school vouchers program that would give scholarships to children attending private and religious schools.

McMahon spoke at the Midland County Republican Party’s “Bill Schuette Barbeque” Monday.

In a 25-minute discussion, McMahon touted new educational programs in President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending bill. Earlier Monday, she spoke at Hillsdale College, a private college that does not accept federal funds.

She also stopped by public charter schools in Detroit and nearby Redford as well as Renaissance High School in Detroit, which requires students to take an exam to be considered for admission.

McMahon’s visit came as Michigan students lag their peers in other Midwest states in reading, despite a large boost in state spending.

Michigan is ranked 44th for fourth grade reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a nationwide test done every two years on a sample of students.

On state tests, only 38.9% of third grade students are proficient or advanced in English language arts. Michigan has

McMahon said in order for students to improve, Michigan needed to embrace programs like “the science of reading” — something the Legislature passed and Whitmer signed into law in 2024. But the legislation gives schools until the 2027-2028 school year to incorporate evidence-based curriculums. McMahon wished it’d be faster.

“It’d be tomorrow, if I could wave a magic wand,” she said. “Students are just getting a little bit more behind all the time without having this incredible tool.”

McMahon recently visited Mississippi, which has made gains in fourth grade reading proficiency. The state has embraced teacher training, using high-quality curriculum and literacy teaching strategies backed by evidence. Mississippi also requires third graders to repeat the grade if they fail to pass a state test, similar to an initiative Michigan tried but later repealed.

Expanding school choice

School choice may expand in Michigan after Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The law includes a tax-credit program similar to school vouchers.

Taxpayers would donate funds to nonprofits and other groups. The groups distribute scholarships that students can use to attend a school of their choice, including private and religious schools. The taxpayer gets a tax credit for their donation.

States can opt in to the program, but Whitmer has not signaled any inclination to do so.

“Why in the world would any governor fail to opt into a plan that would give students … the opportunity to go to a school where they are going to have the opportunity for success,” McMahon said in the discussion.

Michigan leaders have tried unsuccessfully before to get a similar program started in the state. This new federal program could open doors to greater access to private school choice in the state, but a lot is still up in the air.

The state constitution forbids public funds being used for private schools. But 1 in 4 Michigan public school students use some form of public school choice.

Nearly 200,000 students left their district to attend another one during the 2023-24 school year, and another 150,000 attended a charter school, according to a Bridge analysis.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy had challenged the state constitutional ban on public funds for private schools in court. The US Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The think tank’s president, Joseph Lehman, joined the discussion with McMahon at the annual dinner.

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The scholarship program has drawn strident opposition from public school advocates and teacher’s unions, who argue the program is an effort to draw taxpayer support away from public education.

“Linda McMahon’s visit to a Michigan high school underscores Republican attacks on our public schools, and they’re hoping we don’t notice,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said in a statement. “Here in Michigan, state House Republicans are cutting millions from the education budget and ripping free school meals away from working families.”

State lawmakers have not reached a budget deal. The Michigan School Meals program allows for all students regardless of income to get school meals at no-cost. The House Republican plan would eliminate dedicated funding for the program but includes extra unrestricted money that districts could still choose to use for free meals.

The universal school meals program championed by Whitmer is currently funded through the end of this month but many districts are already warning families that meals may not be free after this month.

Abolishing the Department of Education

McMahon is overseeing a federal department that President Donald Trump has said he wants to dismantle. The department administers student loans, investigates civil rights complaints and distributes funding to schools.

Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at dismantling the department, which directs McMahon to take steps toward closing the department.

Full shutting it down would require an act of Congress but McMahon has already moved to reduce the workforce. She said in Midland that Trump told her the focus has to be “to put yourself out of a job.’”

“He said, ‘you’re going to do that by returning education to the states,’” McMahon said.

McMahon’s college criticisms

McMahon’s stop in Midland was a political event, but she’s also touring the country in her government role as part of a “Returning Education to the States Tour,” which included the Detroit-area stops and a visit to Hillsdale College.

Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, joined McMahon for the tour of Pembroke Academy, which won a National Blue Ribbon designation from the federal government in 2024. The program recognizes schools that are high-achieving or closing achievement gaps. The Trump administration is ending the award program.

In Hillsdale, McMahon railed against a “crisis of leadership” in US universities and pointed to the private institution — which has positioned itself at the vanguard of conservative education — as a model for higher education nationwide.

“College should be a trial by fire that inspires students to struggle and strive … classes should be challenging and make no apologies or accommodations,” McMahon said, according to remarks released by the Department of Education.

“American families are fed up with the broken college system that delivers disillusionment for millions of students,” she said.

The federal Department of Education has rescinded hundreds of millions in academic research funding from Michigan’s major research institutions, including the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, over policy disagreements.

McMahon noted in Midland that college is not for every student, and floated making trade school programs accessible as early as middle school so some students can get a jump start on their technical education.

“It might be teaching air conditioning and carpentry and even earlier stages of engineering,” she said.

“So kids who can start in middle school working on some of those programs” in local community colleges can graduate high school with certificates in skilled trades.