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@ajws.org this is FRESH AIR.
I'm Tanya Moseley.
The Department of Education is reportedly gutting its workforce.
In addition to the more than 1300 workers who were fired on Tuesday,
more than 600 have accepted separation packages
or were fired last month during their probationary period.
This leaves the department to roughly half of its workforce,
which is responsible for enforcing civil rights laws in schools,
supplying student loans and grants and tracking student achievement.
These new layoffs come as President Donald Trump calls to eliminate the department altogether.
At the heart of Trump's effort is a plan to consolidate what he describes
as waste within the government,
but vowing to cut federal funding for schools and colleges that promote,
quote, critical race theory and transgender ideologies.
Earlier this week,
the U.S. department of Education also sent letters to 60 colleges