Education Secretary Linda McMahon said that mass layoffs—nearly 50 percent—are just a first step toward eliminating the Department of Education and returning power to the states and the parents.
In an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, McMahon made it clear throughout that she is following President Trump’s directive to shut down the department she has been tapped to oversee. However, she makes it clear that such a move would not be likely without an act of Congress.
When Ingraham asked if the layoffs, reported at RedState earlier Tuesday, were part of a plan for a “total shutdown,” McMahon did not hesitate.
“Yes – actually, it is,” she replied. “That was the president’s mandate. His directive to me clearly is to shut down the Department of Education.”
“What we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat.”
‘BUREAUCRATIC BLOAT’: Education Secretary @Linda_McMahon joins @IngrahamAngle to discuss the agency cutting nearly half of its staff and President Trump’s goal to bring school choice to the states. pic.twitter.com/qyYFmxRqBx
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 12, 2025
The Secretary of Education further indicated that eliminating the federal bureaucracy behind education is simply about transferring power to the states and returning parental input—something the Biden administration sought to eliminate often through extreme measures—into their children’s education.
She insists that dismantling the ED is not going to wipe out education, as the media has portrayed it.
Possible Big Moves at Education Department: Reports of Major Office Closures, Reductions in Force
WATCH: Kimmel’s Theory About Trump’s Call to Close Education Department Is Unintentional Comedy Gold
“The president never said that,” McMahon countered. “He’s taking the bureaucracy out of education so that more money flows to the states. Better education is closest to the kids, with parents, with the local superintendents, with local school boards.”
“I think we’ll see our scores go up with our students when we can educate them with parental input as well.”
BREAKING: The Dept of Education announces a nearly 50% Reduction in Force. Per their statement, 1,350 employees are being placed on leave beginning Friday. This comes just after staff were told to vacate Dept of Edu by 6pm today; all DC & regional offices will be closed tomorrow https://t.co/1SUOjne4AW pic.twitter.com/O41gebXPu6
— Sara Cook (@saraecook) March 11, 2025
Over the weekend, President Trump slammed the education system in America prior to his administration, noting that the spending in the Education Department was off the charts while test scores were constantly sinking.
“We want to bring the schools back to the states because we have, literally, we have the worst education department and education in the world,” he said. “We’re ranked at the bottom of the list, and yet we’re number one when it comes to cost per pupil.”
.@POTUS: “We want to bring the schools back to the states because we have the worst education department and education in the world… we’re ranked at the bottom of the list, and yet we’re number one when it comes to cost per pupil.” pic.twitter.com/Bcfd3Oubh5
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 9, 2025
The Department of Education emailed roughly 1,315 employees on Tuesday, advising them to leave the building by 6 p.m. All offices were to be closed on Wednesday due to the ongoing restructuring.
A senior official, according to the New York Post, said the eliminated positions were “redundant or not necessary for the functioning of the department.”
Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, voiced her displeasure with the revamping of the ED, calling it a “disaster symbolically as much as a disaster in reality.”
Test scores in reading and math have dropped precipitously since Weingarten was named AFT President in 2008, meaning her use of the word “disaster” is projection.
If she’s angry about it, then McMahon and Trump are most certainly making the right move.
President Trump, via Elon Musk and DOGE, is bringing much-needed accountability to our out-of-control bureaucracy as they take a chainsaw to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse.
Help us continue to report on DOGE’s accomplishments and expose Big Government corruption. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
