Washington (EFE).- The US Department of Education offices were shuttered at dawn on Wednesday after President Donald Trump ordered it as part of his plan to dismantle the department and fulfill one of his campaign promises.
On Wednesday morning, only security guards and a few protesters were present at the department headquarters in Washington following a rally on Tuesday shortly after the order was issued.
Department employees received an internal email on Tuesday, leaked to national media, ordering them to vacate all offices in the capital by 6:00 pm local time and noting that they would be closed on Wednesday for “security reasons.”
Shortly afterward, the secretary of the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, announced in a statement that it had decided to place half of its staff on istrative leave, effective Mar. 21.
In January 2024, when Trump came to power, the department had 4,133 employees, but after this decision the number would be reduced to 2,183.
On Wednesday morning, the only people going in and out of the building were security guards. They confirmed to EFE that they were the only ones inside.
Chloe Kinsley, a 23-year-old, held a sign at the headquarters door that read: “Teachers ed me for 17 years, now it’s time to them.”
“Public education and education in general is essential to America’s children. That’s why I wanted to come,” Kinsley said.
When questioned in the Oval Office, Trump justified the firings by claiming that “many of them (employees) don’t work at all” and had never reported for duty.
“We’re keeping the best people. And Linda McMahon is a real professional, very actually, very sophisticated businessperson. She cut a large number, but she kept the best people, and we’ll see how it all works out,” the US president said.
Trump insisted on dismantling the department to devolve the education management to the states and let them, rather than someone from Washington, be in charge.
However, Neera Tanden, the director of the Center for American Progress, an NGO “dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans,” said in a statement that “America’s children will be hurt by Department of Education cuts.”
“Such massive cuts will directly affect the quality of public education in the United States,” Tanden said, “today’s kids will have fewer educational opportunities than their parents or even older brothers and sisters did.”
Republicans have been highly critical of the Department of Education under Democrat Joe Biden (2021-2025), particularly decisions to grant student loans and extend sex discrimination protections in education to LGBT+ people. EFE
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