Linda McMahon didn’t need a Trump executive order to make big Education Department layoffs
www.chalkbeat.org
The layoffs, combined with recent staff buyouts, mean that the number of Education Department staff has dropped by nearly 50% in the last two weeks. President Donald Trump has expressed a desire to close the department.

The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that it’s cutting its workforce nearly in half.

Roughly a third of staff will lose their jobs through a “reduction in force,” the department said in a press release. Combined with voluntary buyouts, the Education Department will have just under 2,200 employees by the end of the month, compared with 4,133 when President Donald Trump took office with promises to shutter the department.