McMahon’s visit to Idaho is more politics than public education | Opinion
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was in Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday with Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield as part of the Department of Education’s History Rocks! Tour, which is meant to coincide with America’s 250th birthday.
It’s an ironic visit, as McMahon, of World Wrestling Entertainment fame and qualifications, is seeking to dismantle and eliminate the federal Department of Education, and her tour is part of an effort to whitewash that history.
McMahon’s visit to Idaho also comes at an interesting time, as Idaho seems bent on chipping away at public education and ensuring that history is taught without the incovenient chapters of our history.
Just this month, Little and Critchfield gave their stamp of approval to Club America in Idaho high schools, a political propaganda machine of the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, an organization that whitewashes history and places patriotism and exceptionalism above the warts of America’s past.
Little even issued a proclamation encouraging Idaho students to form Club America chapters at their schools.
“The hypocrisy of this partnership is staggering,” according to a statement from Babe Vote, a youth civic engagement organization that condemned the governor’s proclamation. “This move by the governor and superintendent proves that their concern isn’t about removing politics from schools — it’s about ensuring only their politics are allowed.”
Idaho is also embracing schools that use materials from Hillsdale College, a private Christian school in Michigan known for its classical curriculum, rejection of federal funding, “anti-woke positions” and staunch conservative principles. Its 1776 Curriculum has been criticized for downplaying racial injustices and the impact of slavery on America.
Hillsdale plays a prominent role in McMahon’s visit. The U.S. Department of Education is coordinating with something called Freedom250 and the America 250 Civics Education Coalition, a national partnership that includes Turning Point USA, Hillsdale College and America First Policy Institute, a think tank founded by a former Trump adviser in 2021 to promote supposed “America First” policies on issues such as immigration, trade, energy and national security.
Talk about politics masquerading as education. It’s more like indoctrination — that word you hear the far right scream all the time.
Speaking of indoctrination, let’s also not forget the governor and superintendent endorsed PragerU content in Idaho schools. PragerU, dressed up in kid-friendly, simple-talk cartoons, distorts history and promotes ideologically skewed misinformation, including this made-up quote from Christopher Columbus, “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don’t see the problem.” Or having Frederick Douglass characterize slavery as a compromise that needed to be made to form the United States.
To be fair, Idaho has set aside $50 million in tax credits for education.
But instead of directing that money toward actually improving public education, the state is using that money to pay students to leave the public school system and spend that taxpayer money on private schools.
The Legislature also passed and Little signed a bill that is a naked attempt to break the teachers union by making it more difficult for unions to collect dues.
The Idaho teachers union on Tuesday announced that its members overwhelmingly supported a motion to issue a vote of “no confidence” in Little, and is considering rescinding its Champion of Education award it gave to the governor in 2024.
We would feel much better about McMahon’s visit — no matter how unqualified she is to hold this Cabinet position — if it were to celebrate public education and ways to make it stronger; unfortunately, it’s yet another political event celebrating the hijacking of our public school system.
Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, assistant editor Jim Keyser and community members John Hess, Debbie McCormick and Julie Yamamoto.