As President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Education moves toward confirmation, her knowledge of special education and her plans for the program are raising concerns.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12 to 11 along party lines late last week to advance Linda McMahon’s nomination for secretary of education to the full Senate.

Trump, who has pledged to shutter the Education Department, has said that he wants the former WWE executive to “put herself out of a job.”

During confirmation hearings McMahon backed major changes, saying that she wants to “reorient” the agency and return control over education to the states, though she acknowledged that Congress would need to act in order to close the department altogether.

“We’d like to do this right,” she told senators. “We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with.”

McMahon repeatedly suggested that oversight of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ought to be moved outside of the Education Department.

“Special education, I think it very well could go back to HHS where it started,” McMahon told senators, referencing the Department of Health and Human Services.

When questioned about who would enforce IDEA if the Education Department were to close, McMahon spoke instead about the importance of maintaining funding for disability services, only indicating that “the programs have to have accountability.”

McMahon was similarly short on specifics when asked what IDEA promises students with disabilities.

“It promises that we’re going to take care of these students, that they’re going to be provided with assistance that they have in the school rooms, the technology they need,” she said.

McMahon also raised the idea of moving the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, which handles complaints of disability discrimination in schools, to the Justice Department.

The proposals come while major changes are already underway at the Education Department as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency targets the agency. The Trump administration has announced more than $2 billion in cuts affecting education research, teacher training programs and other agency efforts. In addition, over 130 employees have reportedly been let go or put on administrative leave, including some special education staff.

Moves to dismantle the agency could have an outsized impact on the nation’s 7.5 million special education students, advocates have warned. The Education Department sends billions in federal funding for special education to states each year and is responsible for services ranging from early intervention for young children with disabilities to vocational rehabilitation. The agency is also charged with ensuring that the civil rights of students with disabilities are protected.

McMahon’s appearances in the Senate so far are leaving disability advocates uneasy.

“We have deep concern with the nominee. We are not confident she will uphold all tenets and requirements of key federal education, disability and civil rights statutes,” said Denise S. Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, or COPAA, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of students with disabilities and their families. “Her disturbingly vague answers about the purpose of these laws combined with the proposal to move IDEA’s functions to the nation’s health agency, demonstrates both her lack of expertise and willingness to wreak havoc on the school systems that provide educational access and opportunity for millions of children with disabilities in thousands of school districts across the U.S.”

The American Association of People with Disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and the Autistic Self Advocacy Network are also urging senators to oppose McMahon’s confirmation citing her lack of knowledge about federal laws supporting students with disabilities.

In addition, McMahon is facing pushback from the National Education Association, which represents millions of educators.

“McMahon took every opportunity to reiterate her plans to move forward with dismantling programs that will harm our most vulnerable and underserved students,” said Becky Pringle, the group’s president. “If this anti-public education agenda is enacted, students will face larger class sizes; see fewer resources for at-risk students, the loss of vital services for students with disabilities; cuts to job-training programs, increased costs for higher education; and a rollback of basic civil rights protections.”

However, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who chairs the Senate education committee, said that McMahon presents an opportunity for needed change.

“If confirmed, Ms. McMahon has the tall task of reforming a Department of Education that has lost its purpose. For the last four years, the department focused on everything but student learning. Its bureaucracy and red tape stand in the way of student success,” Cassidy said. “We need a strong leader at the department who will get our education system back on track. Ms. McMahon is the right person for the job.”