DOE Set To Die

Department of Education cut in half: As of Tuesday, the Education Department is about half the size it was when President Donald Trump took office just a few weeks ago.

Seemingly per the Department of Government Efficiency’s guidance, the Department of Education cut 1,315 workers. In addition to those firings, “572 employees accepted separation packages offered in recent weeks and 63 probationary workers were terminated last month,” reports The New York Times (which seems substantially more concerned about these moves than I am).

Laid-off workers “will remain on the payroll for 90 days, receiving full pay and benefits, and be given one week of pay for each of their first 10 years of service and two weeks’ pay for every year of service beyond 10 years,” per the Times. (Seems reasonable.)

Trump needs congressional approval to fully close the office, which he appears motivated to do. The issuance of Pell Grants for low-income students and funding for special ed programs will not be affected by the current cuts; if the department is fully shuttered, it remains to be seen what will happen to these programs.

The DOE should best be thought of as a “grant maker and a loan lender,” higher ed expert Peter Granville tells CBS News. It manages student loans and operates the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) program, which services some 17 million students each year. Trump has called the department “a big con job” which…isn’t how I’d put it, per se, but isn’t totally wrong.

In fact, its operation of such programs has, in some cases, allowed more students to access a college education than otherwise would have. But “easily accessible loans led to skyrocketing tuition,” writes Reason‘s Emma Camp, “and gave schools an incentive to create low-value programs accepting students unlikely to graduate, all to absorb government money.” If federal student loans were abolished, private loans or income-sharing agreements could fill the void (and colleges might bring down their out-of-control prices).

“Federal money is inevitably accompanied by rules and regulations that keep the influx of funds from having much, if any, impact on student outcomes,” reads The Heritage Foundations’ (hilariously reviled) Project 2025 guidebook for what conservative policymaking could and should look like. This is accurate! (It goes on to endorse school choice, arguing that “Washington should convert some of the lowest-performing public school systems in the country into areas defined by choices, creating rigorous learning options for all children and from all backgrounds, income levels, and ethnicities.” Correct again!)

“The real victims will be our most vulnerable students,” says Becky Pringle, the president of the nation’s largest teachers union. It’s not really clear how, especially if Pell Grants and special ed program funding is preserved. Trump isn’t saying all public schools should be closed, or that all schoolteachers should be fired; he’s merely trying to bring greater control of education to states and localities (which already decide the most important things, like curriculum). Also, for all the hubbub—much of it warranted—about Trump’s penchant for flouting the Constitution, it’s worth pointing out that it gives the federal government no authority to govern education.

Averting shutdown: “The House on Tuesday approved a stopgap bill aimed at funding the federal government through September 30 and preventing a shutdown after the Friday deadline,” reports CNN. “The legislation now moves to the Senate, where it’s largely up to the Democrats to decide whether to support the measure or risk a shutdown.”

Compared to FY 2024, defense spending is expected to increase by $6 billion while nondefense decreases by $13 billion. If a measure to fund the government fails to pass, the federal government will shut down on Friday, which amusingly means only 900,000 federal workers will be furloughed—considered nonessential—while 1.4 million will be expected to continue showing up to work.

The political dynamics of a government shutdown would be fascinating, given the efficiency push by DOGE and the Trump administration; we’re already seeing wild amounts of malicious compliance, so would a little more even matter? The fact that some government operations cease might give Musk and team more ideas about how to make the cuts they desire.

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Scenes from New York: “If the first half of the 20th century was termed ‘the golden age of child play,’ the first quarter of the 21st feels like a death rattle. The mid-’80s brought milk carton kids. Amber Alerts, which send out messages about missing or abducted children in suspected danger via cable news, radio, and text message, were invented a decade later. In the early 2000s, certain prosecutors started cracking down on child truancy. Now, in the 2020s, that icon of American ingenuity—the McDonald’s PlayPlace—has started to become replaced by screens, with glorious plastic kingdoms torn down all across America. The culture shifted from one of widespread permissiveness to one of extreme scrutiny and worry. And nothing was exempt from this parenting culture shift, not even the playgrounds.”

From my latest, a deep dive into padlocked playgrounds and lawsuits and safetyism in parenting culture. Easy-to-digest X thread version HERE if reading long articles ain’t yer thing.

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QUICK HITS

• A new documentary out on how New York botched its weed legalization because it was too obsessed with “equity”:

• Conservative paradise? I don’t think so: “Hungary’s government will limit the profit margin for grocers on a number of basic food items, the prime minister said on Tuesday, a response to growing inflation hitting consumers in the Central European country,” reports the Associated Press.
• Ukraine has just accepted a U.S.-led proposal for a 30-day truce between the embattled country and its aggressor, Russia, as part of a deal with the Trump administration “to lift its freeze on military aid and intelligence for Kyiv,” per Bloomberg. Now, the American delegation, helmed by Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, will meet with the Russians to get their buy-in. The Ukrainians “made concrete steps and concrete proposals, not only accepting our proposal for a full ceasefire,” Waltz said. “We also got into substantive details on how this war is going to permanently end, what type of guarantees they’re going to have for their long-term security and prosperity, but also really looking at what it’s going to take to finally end the horrific fighting.”
• American-funded tuberculosis programs worldwide have been paused due to aid freezes President Trump announced upon taking office. A New York Times investigation maps the fallout: “Family members of infected people are not being put on preventive therapy. Infected adults are sharing rooms in crowded Nairobi tenements, and infected children are sleeping four to a bed with their siblings. Parents who took their sick children to get tested the day before Mr. Trump was inaugurated are still waiting to hear if their children have tuberculosis. And people who have the near-totally drug-resistant form of tuberculosis are not being treated.”
• “A rise in skepticism toward romance is a loss, not just for boys but for society as a whole,” writes Faith Hill at The Atlantic. “Romantic love isn’t better or more important than platonic love, but it’s different—and telling yourself you have no need for it doesn’t necessarily make it true.”
• LMAO. Saudi Arabia! You cannot make this up. (Confirmation that it’s true and not a joke.):

No joke: Meet the new Chair of the U.N. Women’s Rights Commission. pic.twitter.com/Dw9mSd5l2R

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) March 11, 2025

• Feud watch:

This tweet from Trump’s account is very misleading.

I never voted for a CR that became law. I did vote for a CR under McCarthy that included an 8% cut to all discretionary spending, but unfortunately that CR did not become law.

Do research and you’ll find I’ve been consistent. pic.twitter.com/XSEFGvsbFE

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 11, 2025

• Everything’s computer! Love or hate the man, he’s pithy and funny.

Trump: Wow… Everything’s computer
pic.twitter.com/LjGoZD4Qk8

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 11, 2025

• Still promoting this. Not going to stop until everyone’s seen it. Our Just Asking Questions episode with James Pogue was one of my absolute favorites. For the preceding episode, we had on Matt Taibbi. For this week’s episode, Tom Woods. Please check out our channel, it has been so hard building a new one from scratch and any like/comment/view/subscribe goes a really long way. Thank you so much!

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Source: https://reason.com/2025/03/12/doe-set-to-die/