Education Secretary Linda McMahon revealed Sunday that a terrifying study showed that as many as 10% of schoolchildren will be molested before completing high school.
McMahon, 77, made the claim during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, vowing that the Trump administration is cracking down on sexual abuse in public education. She indicated that California, in particular, is a hotbed for such abuse and weak enforcement policies, citing internal Education Department research drawn from general education statistics.
“This stat will probably blow your mind. It did mine,” McMahon said’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Statistics show 1 in 10 children before they finish high school will have been sexually molested in school.”
She explained that the department conducted its own study using general education statistics that were afforded to them, and that the numbers coming out of California were particularly alarming. McMahon accused some school districts of allowing perpetrators to remain in the education system by simply moving them between schools rather than firing them outright.
“Instead of firing those teachers, those teachers just get sent to another school. And it’s not part of their record or anything,” she said, noting the accused could also be faculty or staff rather than just classroom teachers. “We have really been cracking down on that as well.”
The Department of Education did not immediately provide exact statistics or details on how the study was conducted when contacted by the New York Post. McMahon’s comments come amid an escalating federal pressure campaign against school districts nationwide over their handling of employee sexual misconduct allegations.
Last month, McMahon issued a Dear Colleague letter warning K–12 schools they risk losing federal funds if they fail to police sexual misconduct by employees. “The Department has observed a troubling and recurring pattern in schools across the Nation of credible reports of sexual abuse and harassment by adults in positions of authority going uninvestigated, institutional cultures that protect employees over students, and administrative indifference that allows predatory conduct to fester,” she wrote in the July 10 letter.
The Trump administration has opened investigations into 20 school districts over their data collection practices and handling of allegations of staff sexual harassment of students, including two California districts — Tulare City and Wilsona. The administration is also examining an agreement between the Los Angeles Unified School District and its teachers union to reassign educators accused of sexual misconduct instead of removing them during investigations.
McMahon’s crackdown follows a KQED-ProPublica investigation published in May that found California’s teacher licensing agency has not revoked the professional credentials of at least 67 educators who school districts determined had sexually harassed students or committed other types of sexual misconduct. At least 14 of those educators were rehired by other schools.
“Unfortunately, many administrators and State educational regulators have apparently preferred to sweep these incidents under the rug and have ‘pass[ed] the trash’ to another school,” McMahon wrote in her open letter to state schools chiefs, referring to teachers who go on to work in different schools after findings of sexual misconduct.
California law requires public school teachers who resign or are fired for misconduct to be reported to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, but the agency cannot formally review allegations of sexual misconduct unless it also receives an affidavit from alleged victims. State law also prevents the agency from sharing disciplinary information publicly, making it difficult for school districts to learn details of prospective employees’ histories.
Some critics have characterized McMahon’s guidance as political rhetoric, particularly given the Trump administration’s broader efforts to dismantle the Education Department. Maggie Sisco, a spokesperson for the California Teachers Association, said in a statement that “this is yet another example of the Trump administration weaponizing and distorting an issue for political purposes while also systematically dismantling the very offices of the Department of Education that were established to protect the safety and civil rights of students across the nation.”
McMahon’s focus on school sexual abuse comes as she faces her own legal troubles over alleged failure to protect minors from sexual abuse. A lawsuit filed in late 2024 accuses McMahon and her husband, Vince McMahon, of ignoring reports that a longtime WWE employee, Mel Phillips, groomed and sexually abused underage boys who worked on the ring crew in the 1980s and ’90s. McMahon’s attorney, Laura Brevetti, has called the lawsuit “filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations, and misrepresentations regarding Linda McMahon.”
During her CNN appearance, McMahon also addressed the rise of artificial intelligence use in classrooms, stressing that while there are concerns about excessive screen time, she has seen it used effectively as a “one-on-one tutor.” She cited a school she visited in Austin, Texas, where teachers could monitor whether a child was behind and repeat information, or speed up programs for excelling students. “It’s AI with guardrails,” she said. “And as we introduce it, I think slowly in schools, it can be a very effective tool used properly.”
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt later pushed back on McMahon’s AI enthusiasm, warning that prior technology experiments in classrooms had worsened test results. “Now they want to run a third experiment on younger kids, giving them all what already we know that I causes a detriment of learning,” he said. “I’m extremely negative about the role of AI in education, especially in elementary school. And I say, let’s not do another uncontrolled experiment. Just keep it out of elementary school. That’s where kids need to learn basic skills. Don’t have them interacting with chatbots.”
McMahon’s “1 in 10” statistic echoes a congressional report from over two decades ago that found over 4.5 million children endured sexual misconduct ranging from physical abuse to inappropriate comments, concluding that 1 in 10 children endured such misconduct broadly defined. The education secretary’s specific claim that this occurs “in school” represents a narrower framing than that earlier study’s findings.
The Trump administration’s California pressure campaign intensified last month when it was revealed the Golden State was at risk of losing $50 million in Title I federal funds if it failed to properly penalize abusive teachers. Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said if elected he would “end the loopholes that let dangerous teachers move from one school district to another,” while Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra’s spokesperson said Becerra “will make sure this state has a system that acts swiftly and keeps educators who harm students out of the classroom.”
McMahon is scheduled to continue her media appearances promoting the administration’s school safety agenda in the coming weeks.