Education Secretary Linda McMahon isn’t pulling any punches—she’s making it crystal clear that the mass layoffs at the Department of Education (ED) are just the first step in shutting the entire agency down.
In a no-nonsense interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, McMahon didn’t dance around the issue when asked if the layoffs—nearly 50% of the department’s workforce—were part of a larger plan to shut down the ED completely.
“Yes – actually, it is.”
She explained that this isn’t about gutting education (as the media is hysterically claiming), but rather about taking power out of Washington and putting it back where it belongs: with parents and local school boards.
“The president never said that [he wanted to eliminate education],” McMahon clarified. “He’s taking the bureaucracy out of education so that more money flows to the states.”
And that’s the key here—less federal red tape, more funding going directly to the classrooms instead of being wasted on Washington bureaucrats.
McMahon’s push to dismantle the ED aligns perfectly with Trump’s long-standing view that the federal government has failed American students.
Trump didn’t hold back over the weekend when he slammed the broken education system:
“We have the worst education department in the world.”
“We’re ranked at the bottom of the list, yet we’re number one when it comes to cost per pupil.”
And he’s not wrong. Despite dumping billions into education, student performance continues to drop, especially under leftist leadership that prioritizes political agendas over actual learning.
On Tuesday, the Department of Education sent emails to 1,315 employees, instructing them to clear out of the building by 6 p.m.. All offices were closed Wednesday due to the restructuring.
‘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
According to a senior official, the eliminated positions were deemed redundant or unnecessary for the functioning of the department—which makes you wonder just how bloated this agency had become.
Of course, the usual suspects wasted no time in raging against the move.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), called it a “disaster symbolically as much as a disaster in reality.”
Now, let’s take a second to appreciate the irony here:
- Weingarten has been leading the AFT since 2008.
- Since then, test scores in reading and math have tanked.
- Under her leadership, students have suffered, while teachers’ unions have gained massive political power.
So, if Weingarten is angry about these changes, it’s probably a good sign McMahon and Trump are doing something right.
