Steve Ballmer has more on his mind than the NBA playoffs.
The Clippers owner posted an open letter to Linda McMahon on Monday, asking Education Secretary Linda McMahon to save the National Center for Educational Statistics after layoffs in recent weeks. The agency has reportedly been shrunk from 100 employees to just three.
The ex-Microsoft CEO—who has a net worth of $117 billion according to Forbes—has poured $10 million into a new nonprofit, USAFacts, since launching it in 2017. The site purports to provide straightfoward and “unbiased” reports on U.S. government data. “We don’t make predictions and we don’t speculate on causes,” Ballmer said about USAFacts in 2024. “We focus on providing Americans with clear, nonbiased numbers.”
He signed the letter, published a day after the Clippers clinched the West’s No. 4 seed, as the founder of USAFacts.
In his letter, Ballmer criticizes the department for cutting back on its data collection efforts.
“When Secretary McMahon was sworn in to lead the Department of Education, she outlined a goal to ‘send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children,’” Ballmer wrote. “Without passing judgement on any administration’s education policy, there is a key component that states, school districts, and parents need to make those fundamental decisions: data.”
Ballmer asked McMahon to reconsider cuts to the National Center for Education Statistics because of his company’s reliance on it and the vital information it provides on learning trends nationwide.
“These are indicators of our nation’s educational health, and the American people rely on these figures being published by a reliable national source,” Ballmer wrote.
McMahon was confirmed as the head of the department early last month. Along with her estranged husband, Vince McMahon, she was the CEO of of WWE before jumping into politics in 2009.
The Department of Education has been a major Trump target since his second term began in January. He has said it’s his goal to shutter the department entirely.
USAFacts and the Clippers both did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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