Department of Education Cuts Nearly 50% of Workforce, Teachers and Students Take the Hit

Robert Wright

A press release by the U.S. Department of Education announced that they have initiated a Reduction In Force (RIF) by slashing nearly 50% of their employees as a part of the department’s “final mission”. According to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, the move marks the department’s “commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.” In a released Workforce Reshaping List , the layoffs heavily affect the Office of Federal Student Aid and the Office for Civil Rights. The list includes the layoffs for specific positions such as Civil Rights Attorneys and Equal Opportunity Specialists.

The move to dismantle the Department of Education is pushed by the ultra-reactionary Trump administration under the guise of getting rid of federal “bureaucracy” and place the states in total control over education. However, this is misleading as the states control the majority of their education. The function of the Department of Education is ensuring the implementation of federal legislation on Civil Rights, federal financial aid distribution, and the disbursement of federal aid to Title 1 schools. These functions of the department cannot be completely done away with by executive order, since they were passed through congressional law. However, the mass layoffs and employee buyouts have weakened the department to the point that it would be impossible for the remaining employees to keep up with the workload. In addition to the layoffs, massive amounts of federal funding have also been cut from the collegiate level to K-12 public schools. The cuts span from research funding, to teacher preparation programs, and programs for Special Education and Multilingual Students.

The attacks on the public sector are only expected to intensify as Elon Musk plans to use his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a means to overcome the growing economic crisis. Under the guise of States Rights and the “best interests” of parents, public schools in poor areas face the brunt of the attack.

The movement away from federal involvement in education to total control on the state level is the beckoning in of a private business model for education by opening up an entire market to monopolists. This is highlighted by the nation-wide attempts to pass school vouchers. While the “school choice” legislation has claimed to be universal, the majority of scholarships and vouchers go to students already enrolled in private institutions. States nationwide have either passed or plan to pass legislation furthering the privatization of education: for example, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has withheld public school funding as a way to pressure the passage of school vouchers, all while criticizing public schools and making deals to divert public education funds to private institutions.

Photo Credit: Adobe Stock.

---

The Worker is an entirely volunteer-run revolutionary newspaper free from and radically antagonistic to corporate influence. We rely on the support of our readers to sustain our editorial line in service of the working class and the reconstitution of its party, the Communist Party. Make a one-time or recurring donation to our newspaper today: