The Ministry of Education has now finished 1,300 workers On Tuesday, the Trump administration advanced plans to completely dismantle the department.
During an interview with Fox NewsEducation Secretary Linda McMahon said that the layoffs were “First Step“Towards the closing of the agency.
'[Trump’s] The instruction to me is clearly to close the Ministry of Education.
The layoffs affected 1,315 of the department's approximately 4,000 employees.
On Tuesday, a DOE official said, “Today, we are beginning a process of cutting the total number of staff at the Department of Education by almost half.”
“We are focusing on eliminating full teams that are either redundant or unnecessarily operational for department functions,” the official said, adding that 131 teams will be removed.
“We will have these people overcome their responsibilities by Friday, March 21st. They will then proceed to paid administrative leave until the power cuts are complete,” a DOE official continued. “They will be telewalking from tomorrow until March 21st. Everything will be done for safety reasons and will protect 2,183 employees. [reduction in force] It's complete. ”
DOE officials praised McMahon's leadership, adding that recent changes have been “taken with a very careful look at improving education, reducing bureaucracy and empowering states to take charge of their own education decisions.”
According to the DOE, another 600 workers had previously voluntarily left the department as part of the administration's acquisition efforts. Last month, 63 probation workers were fired.
Fox News' Laura Ingraham asked McMahon if the massive layoffs were part of President Donald Trump's plan for a “complete closure” of the department.
McMahon replied, “Yes, in fact, it is.”
“That was the president's mission. His order to me is clearly to close the Department of Education,” she said.
McMahon admitted that the administration knows it must coordinate with Congress to dismantle federal agencies forever.
“What we did today was to take the first step to eliminate what I think is bureaucratic bloated,” she added.
McMahon said the goal of the layoffs was to eliminate bureaucracy, and he pointed out that some of the department's programs are “really good.”
“We wanted to ensure that outward programs, grants, spending coming from Congress, all of that, all of which were fulfilled, are kept up to ensure that they're all fulfilled.”
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