President Trump on Wednesday said he doesn’t like firing Department of Education workers, but “many of them don’t work at all.”
When asked if he had sympathy for DOE workers losing their jobs after the workforce was cut Tuesday, Mr. Trump said, “I feel very badly, but many of them don’t work at all.”
He added, “Many of them never showed up to work. … When we cut, we want to cut, but we want to cut the people that aren’t working or aren’t doing a good job.”
He said Linda McMahon, the DOE’s new secretary, “cut a large number, but kept the best people.”
The president bashed how America has been performing in education versus other countries.
“We have a dream,” he said. “We’re going to move the Department of Education, we’re going to move education to the states … so that the states can run education.”
He added, “What we want to do is always school choice, but we’re going to do school choice, and we’re doing it, but we want education to be moved back where the states run education, where the parents of the children will be running education, when governors that are doing a very good job will be running education.”
The states that “will not be good at all” will be helped, he said.
The Education Department announced Tuesday that it will trim its workers to less than 2,200, a nearly 50% cut.
“Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents and teachers,” Ms. McMahon said.
She said all of the department’s divisions will see reductions, with some getting what she called a “significant reorganization.”
The department said almost 600 employees took buyouts and nearly 1,400 others will be told they’re on administrative leave starting March 21.
