The U.S. Department of Education announced on Tuesday (11) that more than 1,300 employees would be laid off, significantly reducing the operations of the agency that manages federal college loans, tracks student performance, and enforces civil rights laws in schools.
The layoffs mean that the department, which started the year with 4,133 employees, will now have a workforce 50% smaller after less than two months of the Trump administration.
The cuts may herald an additional move by Trump to essentially dismantle the department, as he has already stated he wants to do. However, the Department of Education cannot be closed without Congressional approval. In a highly divided Senate, it is unlikely that the administration will garner enough support to do so, especially since public opinion polls over the past two months have consistently shown that about two-thirds of Americans oppose closing the Department of Education.
Linda McMahon, the current Secretary of Education, described the layoffs as part of an effort to provide services more efficiently and stated that the changes will not affect student loans, grants, and funding for students with special needs or competitive grant awards.
Source: The New York Times