US Education Secretary Linda McMahon visits Oklahoma on tour to 'return education to states'
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has led a massive overhaul of the U.S. Department of Education, aimed at dismantling the agency and funneling federal schools funding directly to states instead. McMahon said earlier in August that she planned to visit every state to hear from students and teachers about innovative ideas in education.
McMahon's first public appearance in Oklahoma on Tuesday, Aug. 19, was at an Oklahoma City-area charter school, Dove Science Academy. She toured the school with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and former House Speaker Charles McCall, who is running for the Republican bid for governor in 2026.
McMahon visited English, math and biology classrooms and listened to students explain how they had built robots. She also took part in a roundtable discussion about workforce development and school choice.
"Workforce development, I think that's really key, as we start to change and look at education differently," she said.
McMahon's appearance in Oklahoma comes as two top Republican state officials — Stitt and state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters — feud over the future of state's education system, which consistently ranks among the worst nationwide.
Stitt disagreed with Walters' proposal in February to require schools to track the immigration status of students. The governor then revamped the State Board of Education with four new members, who routinely push back against Walters' agenda. Most recently, Walters claimed without citing evidence that two new board members lied about seeing images of naked women on his office TV at the behest of Stitt.
Walters has said he is working closely with McMahon and the Trump administration as he rolls out many of his proposals. He was not at Thursday morning's school tour with McMahon.
McMahon's visit to Oklahoma comes during the second week of her tour, which started with stops in Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
(This developing story will be updated.)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: In OKC, Ed Secretary Linda McMahon touts workforce development in schools
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