Linda McMahon’s haphazard cuts to the Department of Education will be costly

Less than two weeks into her tenure as U.S. secretary of Education, Linda McMahon announced nearly 1,300 layoffs to eliminate “bureaucratic bloat” and redirect more funds to states. The cuts to the Department of Education reflect poor leadership and should be undone because they will cost taxpayers and harm children in the long run.

I agree with McMahon in principle that cuts within the department should be made. Many conservative Republicans are not wrong to suggest certain programs and policies have been highly ineffective. As a former teacher and current professor, I have sat through my share of ineffective professional developments and poorly designed research presentations that fail to advance student experiences and achievement outcomes.

However, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. The Department of Education plays a small but important role in enforcing civil rights, maintaining a system of accountability, and conducting research and evaluation to improve teaching and learning outcomes. Cutting the wrong program, defunding a groundbreaking study, or laying off an expert case worker could remove much needed support to struggling children now or in the future.

Secretary McMahon might be more cautious, given that her last job was CEO of Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment and she has almost no public education or government experience. In a display of her own lack of basic preparation and planning, she could not even articulate the name of the nation’s landmark federal special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Unfortunately, she threw caution to the wind, cutting half of the department’s staff just a few business days after her Senate confirmation.

Since there was little time to evaluate each employee’s contributions and track record, the sweeping cut means some highly effective employees lost their jobs while some ineffective employees were retained. And the most qualified employees that remain will undoubtedly seek other positions in more stable working environments.

Fewer qualified individuals will seek employment in the Education Department moving forward because of the uncertainty and poor working conditions which will mean more resources will be dedicated to recruit, hire, induct and train new and inexperienced employees. Some of the least skilled individuals will likely move into leadership positions — a recipe for inefficiency and failure.

In other Trump-initiated cuts, many essential hires haphazardly cut were quickly rehired, creating significant disruptions and organizational inefficiencies. Other recent large-scale cuts led to lawsuits in which the federal government was forced to rehire employees. That meant government employees were paid not to work — hardly a cost saving measure.

Lawsuits will also arise from a failure to address a growing backlog of civil rights complaints, since McMahon’s cuts included most staff from the department’s Office of Civil Rights. Parents struggling to find short-term remedies will join class-action suits that can cost states and the federal government significant amounts of money to litigate and remedy.

Congress will now legislate in the dark, thanks to McMahon’s cuts to the National Center for Education Statistics. The center collects, analyzes and provides actionable information to inform policy and determine spending levels.

McMahon’s cuts also included education research funding. Millions of children with social, emotional and learning-related disabilities may be undereducated if researchers are not learning more about their disabilities and developing new programs and technologies to help them succeed. Fewer students successfully transitioning to the workforce and independent living situations would decrease the nation’s tax base and create a need for lifetime assistance that represents an incalculable financial cost.

These are just some of the many reasons why McMahon’s cuts reflect bad leadership and bad policy. While I am in full agreement that government inefficiencies should be rooted out, and quickly, the Trump administration would be wise to reverse course and implement a logical, evidenced-based approach to improving the Department of Education that does not harm children now or in the future.

David DeMatthews is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas at Austin.

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