U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon attended an American First Speaker Series event in New Bern, NC on July 14, 2026.
A c-span.org video shows Secretary McMahon and Laurie Buckout, a congressional candidate, fielding questions from reporters at Baker’s Kitchen.
Someone asked about local teacher pay and Secretary McMahon said, “The Department of Education doesn’t control that.” She said they work with states on the things that they can control and noted the North Carolina governor announced a 3% increase in starting teacher salaries.
A WNCT reporter asked why she came back to New Bern today.
Linda McMahon said it was fun to be back in her hometown and said she was “born here, went to school here, married here” and talked about politics and the importance of parental involvement.
A WITN reporter asked, “What are some of the specific needs and goals that you’ve seen here in the area and your goals for this area in the future?”
The secretary said she still has friends who are teachers and they talked about teacher pay. “I’m a strong believer. I think teaching is the most noble profession we have in our country. I do think teachers are underpaid,” she said.
When she called on a WCTI reporter, McMahon said, “I think you do need to ask our colonel (the congressional candidate) some questions too.”
The reporter asked, “What are some things that we already do well?”
McMahon said they have done school choice opportunities really well in some communities and talked about scholarships.
Laurie Buckout talked about people having face-to-face interactions versus interacting online.
The Sun Journal reporter said they print their newspaper, and she thought it was being phased out all over the United States. She said, “You mentioned the importance of actually writing things down and retention and attention span among our kids. Do you think that there’s a balance of integrating the immersive and interactive aspects of AI with the still handwritten, hands-on side of things, and kind of how that’s going to go and for the future?”
The secretary looked at the Buckout and said, “You answer.”
The candidate said she’s not an educator, but believed some places were “phasing smartphones and screens out, especially elementary schools for a few years, which I think is fantastic…”
McMahon said she was a proponent of no phones in schools among other things.
The full conversation can be found here.
Related news
The Craven County Board of Education recently decided to close Graham A. Barden Elementary School, as reported here. The board also approved a motion on June 16, 2026, to close Craven Virtual Academy. They are working on a plan to sell the site of the former West Street School and the former FR Danyus Elementary School to the Housing Authority of the City of New Bern for a mixed-income housing development, as reported here.
By Wendy Card, editor. Send an email with questions or comments.