Supreme Court Rubber Stamps Mass Layoffs in the Department of Education

The Supreme Court ruled to allow Trump’s massive layoffs to the Department of Education (DoE) on July 14. Over 1,300 employees have been on paid leave since March from the initial announcement of layoffs as a lower court ruling paused the plans.

The layoffs were paused by lower courts pending a series of lawsuits from Democratic Party mafiosos and the American Federation of Teachers, a national teacher’s union. According to the lawsuits, these layoffs would effectively cripple the federal department, rendering it unable to provide Congress-mandated services to school districts.

Completely closing the DoE would technically require congressional approval, but in order to circumvent that, Trump has ordered these massive layoffs to effectively shut down their ability to function. Under Trump’s plan, the services issued to school districts through the DoE would be distributed among other federal departments—with Trump saying on social media that this is a step in his plan to move the department’s functions “BACK TO THE STATES”.

The federal worker layoffs under the Trump administration continue the trend of the ruling class’s mass layoffs as the economic crisis develops. Adult education and family literacy programs will be moved under the Department of Labor (DoL) in order to “create a federal education and workforce system.” This move aligns with the goals to attack the right to education as an extension to attacking the working class—it remains to be seen what education the DoL would provide, but the attacks on education come along with recent increases in child labor, itself part of the general attacks on the working class as the imperialists seek to recover from their developing crisis.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon had announced previously that the Small Business Administration would take over student loans and that the Department of Health and Human Services would oversee special education services.

Working class families stand to be the most impacted as the result of these layoffs, in addition to services cut from the recent withholding of federal funds. Massive funding cuts, reduction in support positions, increased teacher workload, and lack of classroom resources leave public education infrastructure in disarray. These conditions, combined with right-wing fear mongering around the specter of socialist infiltration of the public school system, further the reactionary attack on public education.

The Supreme Court’s decision to allow these layoffs come one week after the court allowed another round of layoffs across 19 other federal agencies. This decision is one of many Supreme Court rulings that have further established Trump’s unbridled expansion of executive power, a trend developing under both Republican and Democrat administrations.

The recent withholding of federal funds, in addition to the layoffs, would leave millions of working class students and students with disabilities with reduced services—the biggest funding programs of the DoE is Title I Funds and the IDEA Act. Title I provides supplemental funds for schools based on poverty rates, with 63% of U.S. public schools eligible for these funds—these mainly fund free breakfast and lunch programs for students. The IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, program fund special education services for children with disabilities—services working class families cannot afford otherwise.

Image: President Trump signs executive orders with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, The White House.

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