Why Democrats Are Moving To Impeach Linda McMahon: What Closing The Education Department Means For Parents
Last Tuesday morning, I was smearing peanut butter on my 8th grader’s sandwich, scrolling through my local parent group on my phone between loading the dishwasher and digging out a clean pair of soccer socks, when the headline stopped me. A notification from my state education association popped up right after: Democrats have introduced articles of impeachment against Education Secretary Linda McMahon, citing willful intent to dismantle and close the U.S. Department of Education.
My kid’s middle school just hired three new special education aides this year. I remembered the principal saying that 70% of their salaries came from a federal IDEA grant. IDEA runs through the Education Department. I texted my friend Sarah, a 4th grade special ed teacher in the next town, and asked if she had 20 minutes for coffee after drop off. She texted back one word: Now.
We sat at our usual spot, the corner table by the window at the downtown bakery, where the barista leaves a carafe of refills on our table before we even ask. Sarah had half a dozen reading tests stacked in her canvas tote, red ink peeking out from the top edge, and a smudge of purple crayon on her wrist from helping a kid open a new art kit that morning. I showed her the headline on my phone, and she didn’t even look surprised. She stirred her oat milk latte and said, “She’s been gutting the department since day one. Everyone I know who works in DC Ed policy has been saying this for months.”
A lot of the parents I talk to think the Department of Education is just a building full of bureaucrats who make up rules no one likes, far away from our local elementary and high schools. I used to think that too, until I joined the PTA budget committee three years ago. That’s when I learned that 8 to 12 percent of most public school district budgets across the country come from the Ed Department. That money pays for free and reduced price lunch for 22 million kids, for special education aides, for low-income student college grants, for Wi-Fi upgrades in low-income schools, for communication devices for kids with disabilities. When Sarah’s district got E-Rate funding from the Ed Department two years ago, they were finally able to upgrade the internet speed enough to run the speech apps her non-verbal students use to talk to their teachers and peers. Before that, the app cut out every five minutes.
McMahon has openly said for years that she wants to shut the entire department down, push all education control back to state and local governments. The impeachment articles say she’s not just talking about it—she’s already reallocating budgets, cutting core staff, and moving programs out of the department to intentionally make it non-functional; that’s the “willful intent” part. What no one is talking about enough, Sarah pointed out, is what happens when the money that pays for those aides, that lunch, that college grant goes away. Most states already have gaping holes in their education budgets. My state cut higher ed funding by 15 percent last year. There’s no extra money sitting around to pick up the Pell Grants or special ed costs that the Ed Department currently covers.
I have a 20-year-old in community college, and a Pell Grant covers half his tuition this year. I know a single mom down the street who has three kids on free lunch; she works as a nurse aide and makes too much to get other help but not enough to cover $300 a month per kid for school lunch. If that funding disappears, those kids go back to being hungry by 2 p.m., which means they can’t focus in class. If the aide positions go away, kids who need one-on-one support go back to sitting in a general ed classroom where no one has time to help them keep up.
It’s easy to see this as just another DC political fight, the kind that doesn’t touch our daily school drop offs and homework checks. But it’s not. After we finished coffee, Sarah and I talked about what ordinary parents and teachers can actually do about it right now, without spending hours calling politicians or going to marches. None of it is hard.
The first thing you can do is pull up your local school district’s budget on your phone tonight after dinner. Most districts post all budget documents on their website in the “finance” or “school board” tab; it takes two minutes to find. Search for “ED funding” or “federal grant” and see how much of your school’s budget comes from the Department of Education. You’ll probably be surprised how many line items tie back to that department. I did it last night, and our high school has 9% of its total budget tied to Ed Dept grants, including those three new special ed aides my son’s school hired.
The second thing is to send a 2-sentence email to your U.S. representative and both of your senators. You don’t need to write a long essay. Just write: “I’m a constituent in [your town], and I have a kid in public school. I oppose closing the U.S. Department of Education, and I want to know where you stand on the articles of impeachment against Linda McMahon.” That’s it. It takes 3 minutes, and every office keeps track of constituent emails to know what voters care about.
Third, check the agenda for your next local school board meeting. Most districts are already starting to talk about contingency plans if federal Ed funding gets cut, and you can go and ask what the plan is to cover aide salaries, free lunch, or building upgrades if that money disappears. School boards answer to you, not to DC.
We walked back to our cars after coffee, and Sarah got a call from the front office of her school asking her to come in early because a paraeducator called out sick. I got a text from my son asking if I could bring his forgotten soccer cleats to school before practice. We didn’t solve anything. We just agreed that most of the time, we’re just treading water, getting through the week, making sure everyone gets fed and gets where they need to be. DC news feels like it’s happening on another planet. But this one isn’t.
I sent my email to my senators last night, after I finished the dishes and checked my younger son’s math homework. I still don’t know if the impeachment will go anywhere, I don’t know if the department will actually close. Most of the important things we deal with as parents don’t have clear endings anyway. I just know that if that grant for those aides goes away, my son’s class size will go up, and the kids who need that extra help won’t get it. That’s enough to make me take 10 minutes out of my week to pay attention.
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