In the election campaign, US President Donald Trump announced that he wanted to close the Ministry of Education. With the dismantling of 1,300 jobs, the authority is now taking a first step in this direction.
The Ministry of Education has long been a thorn in the side of US President Donald Trump, now his government is crazy. Around 1,300 jobs are to be dismantled, the Ministry said. Together with the employees who voluntarily left the authority as part of so -called buyouts, the workforce shrinks by almost half.
The employees affected by the dismissals would be on leave from Friday next week, the corresponding message said. Rental contracts for buildings in New York, Boston or Chicago are also to be terminated, said Rachel Oglesby, head of the authority. According to the officials, it is questionable whether the authority is able to maintain their normal operation. However, legally prescribed programs would be continued unabated, including loans and the financing of students with special needs.
Minister of Education wants to transfer powers to states
The job cuts reflect the commitment of the Ministry of Education for Efficiency, the Minister of Education Linda McMahon defended the reduction of the workforce. One wants to ensure that “the resources flow to where they are most important: to the students, parents and teachers”.
At her hearing in the Senate, she had explained that her goal was not to delete core programs, but to make them more efficient. Shortly after taking office, McMahon then referred to US President Trump's wish to close the ministry and described it as his “last task” to eliminate bureaucratic ballast and to transfer the authority's powers to the states.
Trump plans complete closure
Trump had already announced in the election campaign that she wanted to completely close the authority because it had been overrun by “radicals, zealers and Marxists”, as he claimed. The “Wall Street Journal” reported last week that Trump wanted to sign a decree to dissolve the entire ministry. A draft that the “Wall Street Journal” has, Minister of Education McMahon says to take all the necessary steps to enable the ministry to be closed, the newspaper said.
In the preliminary text, it was said that the experiment to control the American education through federal programs and money as well as through bureaucrats who do not owe anyone accounting, had let children, teachers and families down. According to the “New York Times”, the Ministry was created by the congress in 1979 and the parliament would probably have to agree to a resolution. There would also be a wave of complaints against a closure.
