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During her first day on the job, Education Secretary Linda McMahon told staff to prepare for its “final mission.” That objective came into clearer focus Tuesday after the Department of Education announced it had laid off some 1,300 employees – nearly half of its workforce.
The massive layoffs portend a wholesale gutting of the Education Department, argues Joshua Cowen, an education policy scholar at Michigan State University, even if the Trump administration needs congressional approval to close the agency.
Demands to end the Education Department are nothing new. Republicans have been calling for its closure since the early 1980s, and Trump’s presidential campaign platform included a call to abolish the department.
What’s different now, Cowen argues, is Trump’s apparent strategy to do all that’s possible to eliminate the department on his own authority while seeking the congressional approval he legally needs.
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The Department of Education is seen on Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Joshua Cowen, Michigan State University
The president’s apparent strategy is attempting to eliminate the agency on his own authority, while asking Congress to finish the job, an education expert writes.
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World
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Gerard Toal, Virginia Tech; John O’Loughlin, University of Colorado Boulder; Kristin M Bakke, UCL
More Ukrainians are willing to negotiate for peace now than in the early stages of the conflict − but clear red lines remain for the public.
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Bronwen Powell, Penn State; Abderrahim Ouarghidi, Penn State
Collards may have arrived in southern Morocco via early Muslim traders, and Morocco may have been a stop in the journey the vegetables took to America.
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Arts + Culture
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Colleen English, Penn State
Since its start in 1935, roller derby has evolved from a Depression-era fad to TV spectacle to an unabashedly feminist sport that subverts gender norms.
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Economy + Business
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Matt Williams, The Conversation
Congress has until March 14 to pass a spending bill that will keep the lights on in Washington.
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Politics + Society
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Tazreena Sajjad, American University School of International Service
The US was a world leader in refugee resettlement. Trump stopped all that with one executive order. What does the end of refugee resettlement look like in practice?
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Gabriel J. Chin, University of California, Davis
Lawful permanent residents hold many of the same rights that US citizens have, but the government can deport them on certain, often vague, security grounds.
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Environment + Energy
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Richard E. Peltier, UMass Amherst
Clean air has become one of America’s best investments, returning $10 for every $1 spent on regulations, by one estimate.
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Ethics + Religion
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Scott Paeth, DePaul University
Alcoholics Anonymous helped make the Serenity Prayer famous, but it was written by one of the 20th century’s most influential theologians, Reinhold Niebuhr.
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