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‘PROJECT 2025 IN ACTION’: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FIRES HALF OF
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT STAFF  
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Jake Johnson
March 12, 2025
Common Dreams
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_ "Trump and Elon Musk have aimed their wrecking ball at public
schools and the futures of the 50 million students." _

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, AP

 

The Trump administration on Tuesday took a major step toward
dismantling the U.S. Department of Education by firing roughly half
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the agency's workforce, a decision that teachers' unions and other
champions of public education said would have devastating consequences
for the nation's school system.

The department, now led by billionaire Linda McMahon, moved swiftly,
terminating more than 1,300 federal workers
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Tuesday including employees at the agency's student aid and civil
rights offices.

Sheria Smith, president of AFGE Local 252, which represents Education
Department workers, pledged in a statement to "fight these draconian
cuts." The union told
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after the statement was issued that Smith, an attorney with the
Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, was laid off.

The Education Department said the mass staffing cuts would affect
"nearly 50%" of the agency's workforce and that those impacted "will
be placed on administrative leave beginning Friday, March 21st."

In a press release
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McMahon declared that the workforce cuts reflect the department's
"commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources
are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and
teachers."

But critics, including a union that represents more than 3 million
education workers nationwide, said the firings underscore the Trump
administration's commitment to gutting public education in the
interest of billionaires pushing tax cuts and school privatization
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"Trump and Elon Musk
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wrecking ball at public schools and the futures of the 50 million
students in rural, suburban, and urban communities across America by
dismantling public education to pay for tax handouts for
billionaires," said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education
Association.

"The real victims will be our most vulnerable students," Pringle
added. "Gutting the Department of Education will send class sizes
soaring, cut job training programs, make higher education more
expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, take away
special education services for students with disabilities, and gut
student civil rights protections."

"We will not sit by while billionaires like Elon Musk and Linda
McMahon tear apart public services piece by piece."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers,
said in a statement that "denuding an agency so it cannot function
effectively is the most cowardly way of dismantling it."

"The massive reduction in force at the Education Department is an
attack on opportunity that will gut the agency and its ability to
support students, throwing federal education programs into chaos
across the country," she continued. "This move will directly impact
the 90% of students who attend public schools by denying them the
resources they need to thrive. That's why Americans squarely oppose
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the Education Department. We are urging Congress—and the courts—to
step in to ensure all students can maintain access to a high-quality
public education."

The Education Department purge came days after news broke
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President Donald Trump
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executive order aimed at completely shuttering the agency—a move
that would legally require congressional approval.

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, said late Tuesday that the Education
Department firings "are Project 2025 in action, and they have one
goal—to make it easier for billionaires and anti-union extremists to
give themselves massive tax breaks at the expense of working people."

"Today's announcement from the Department of Education is just the
beginning of what's to come," Saunders warned. "These layoffs threaten
the well-being and educational opportunities for millions of children
across the country and those seeking higher education. The dedicated
public service workers at public schools, colleges, and universities
deserve better. Elections may have consequences, but we will not sit
by while billionaires like Elon Musk and Linda McMahon tear apart
public services piece by piece. We will keep speaking out and finding
ways to fight back."

_Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams._

* Department of Education
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* job cuts
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