The US President just let go of nearly half the employees at the Department of Education, and A LOT of people are not happy about it.
Trump began the process of shutting down the DoE
Lately, Trump started shutting down the Department of Education, a place that’s been around for decades. He’s already cut nearly half of the 4,133 people working there.
After he signed an executive order to shut down the DoE, a lot of people started speaking out, worried about what this means.
Not everyone was laid off—over 2,000 employees remain
Now, there’s a little over 2,000 people still at the DoE, but no one really knows what’s next. With Trump signing that executive order to shut it down, their future’s up in the air.
The White House says one thing, but the order conflicts with that
The White House claimed on March 20 that the DoE would still handle federal student loans, but the order kind of says the opposite.
It basically states the department doesn’t have enough staff to manage its massive $1.6 trillion loan portfolio and needs to hand it off to someone else who can actually do the job.
The decision to lay off staff didn’t pass so easily…
Cutting all those jobs didn’t go over well, and people were already speaking out. Someone on X even commented on how he signed the order while having a boy and a girl sitting on either side of him while he was doing so.
Not everyone’s against it, though
Some say the DoE has been throwing ‘billions of taxpayer dollars into a failing system’ for years.
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and a supporter of shutting it down, put it bluntly: “For decades, it has funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into a failing system — one that prioritizes leftist indoctrination over academic excellence, all while student achievement stagnates and America falls further behind.”
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NAACP calls this a dark day for American children
The NAACP isn’t on board with this either. Their president, Derrick Johnson, had some strong words about the decision, calling it ‘a dark day for the millions of American children who depend on federal funding for a quality education, including those in poor and rural communities with parents who voted for Trump.’
Looks like this fight isn’t over yet
Opponents, including the public interest group Democracy Forward, are already getting ready to take this to court.
Senate minority leader Schumer thinks it’s one of the most ‘destructive’ steps Trump has ever taken
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer didn’t hold back, calling the order a ‘tyrannical power grab’ and ‘one of the most destructive and devastating steps Donald Trump has ever taken.’
A former education secretary isn’t so sure about all this
Former education secretary Margaret Spellings, who served under President George W. Bush, isn’t so sure about all this. She questioned whether the department can still handle what’s left of its job—and if this will actually help schools in the long run.
“Will it distract us from the ability to focus urgently on student achievement, or will people be figuring out how to run the train?” she asked.
