Education Secretary Linda McMahon on California Schools: About Six in 10 Students Not Proficient in Math, Says Gov. Gavin Newsom Has 'a Lot of Room for Improvement'
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon spoke about California students' academic performance, Gov. Gavin Newsom's education record and her push to dismantle the department she leads, in an exclusive interview with The California Post during the California stop of her "Returning Education to the States" tour, published on October 25. The latest state education data show that about six in 10 California students are not proficient in math, while roughly half fail to meet state reading proficiency standards. McMahon said low test scores are a nationwide problem that President Donald Trump tasked her with addressing when he offered her the job.
Asked how Newsom has fared on education, McMahon said: "There is a lot of room for improvement." She added: "I challenge governors to make sure that they are on board to serve kids and not serve adults." She said the problem lies in how students are taught: "You cannot force education from the top down from Washington, DC, 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 urged parents to take a more active role: "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."
The interview also covered the dispute over disclosing students' gender identity information to parents. In January, the Education Department found that California's education agency continued to violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the federal law governing parents' access to their children's education records. "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," McMahon said. The department alleged California pressured schools to hide students' gender identities from parents, citing AB 1955, a 2024 state law that bars districts from requiring such disclosure without a student's consent. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sued over the finding, and the state says the law does not mandate nondisclosure.
On winding down her own department, McMahon said the Education Department has signed 14 interagency agreements with six federal agencies — the departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, State, Labor, Interior and Treasury — shifting some K-12 and college grant programs to Labor, the federal student loan portfolio to Treasury, and some special education and civil rights responsibilities to HHS and Justice. "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," she said. She acknowledged that closing the agency outright would require congressional action, telling lawmakers: "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 taken aim at the University of California system, where failure rates in introductory freshman math courses have been climbing. Department spokesperson Julie Hartman said: "It's a troubling indictment of our education system that so many college students struggle with basic high school math." She added: "Dozens of institutions have recognized the value of standardized testing and reinstated the SAT/ACT. The UC system should follow suit."
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国教育部长 Linda McMahon 官方肖像（2026年）。照片：美国教育部，公共领域，经维基共享资源。 / Official portrait of U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon (2026). Photo: U.S. Department of Education, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
