US Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday, 25 August said that artificial intelligence must be embraced in schools but requires guardrails and must never be treated as a substitute for human teachers. Speaking to reporters at a press gaggle at the White House in Washington, McMahon drew on a personal visit to a technology-forward school to make her case.

McMahon's Position on AI in Classrooms

'We need to embrace this technology, but it has to have guardrails because it's very important that we understand that AI cannot replace a teacher in the classroom,' McMahon said. She cited her visit to the Alpha School in Austin, Texas, as evidence of AI's potential when deployed thoughtfully alongside human educators.

McMahon described AI's most promising role as that of a personalised tutor — helping students who are falling behind revisit material, while simultaneously offering advanced content to those who are excelling. 'It has a really wonderful opportunity, used correctly, to service children,' she said. She stressed, however, that direct human interaction between teachers and students remains irreplaceable.

The Push to Dismantle the Department of Education

McMahon also outlined the Trump administration's broader agenda to dismantle the US Department of Education and return greater authority over schooling to individual states. She said President Donald Trump had directed her to pursue a 'hard reset' for federal education policy, citing decades of rising expenditure against a backdrop of declining test scores.

'The Department of Education was set up in 1980. We spent over $3 trillion. Our test scores have continued to decline,' McMahon said, attributing the framing to Trump. She described the department as functioning primarily as a conduit for congressionally authorised funds, arguing that many of its programmes pre-dated its creation and had operated under other federal agencies.

The administration is currently signing inter-agency agreements to shift responsibilities to those agencies — moves McMahon said are designed to demonstrate to Congress that the programmes can run more efficiently elsewhere. 'We know ultimately Congress must vote to close the Department of Education,' she acknowledged.

School Choice and the Federal Tax Credit

On school choice, McMahon said a federal tax credit included in the Trump administration's major tax and spending legislation represents 'the closest we've come so far to nationalizing the opportunity for school choice.' Under the programme, state governors may opt in and establish scholarship-granting organisations. Individuals contributing to those organisations would receive a tax credit of up to $1,700.

McMahon said the funding could enable families to move children out of underperforming schools, cover after-school or private tutoring costs, and support children with disabilities.

Student Debt Transfer and What Comes Next

McMahon confirmed that an inter-agency agreement has been signed with the Treasury Department to transfer oversight of the $1.7 trillion student debt system in stages. She said the administration is proceeding deliberately, assessing which responsibilities should move and when.

The US Department of Education was established as a Cabinet-level agency under legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and began operations in 1980. It oversees federal education funding, civil rights enforcement, student aid, and education data, while states and local authorities retain primary control of public schools. Whether Congress will ultimately vote to close it remains an open question.