What mass firings at the Education Department mean for students

Here & Now Anytime

WBUR

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4.6 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Department of Education is cutting nearly half of its staff as part of President Trump's plan to reduce the federal government's role in education. Chalkbeat's Kalyn Belsha explains how this could impact schools, students and the future of education. And, federal employees were ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures. Some states followed suit, including Texas. Frank Zamora, a former Texas state employee, refused to comply and was promptly fired. Zamora shares his story. Then, Southwest Airlines is dropping one of its most popular policies: free checked bags. Transportation analyst Seth Kaplan explains why.

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Transcript

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0:24.6	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:31.2	You cannot fire half of your staff and think you are going to meet the needs of all of the students in every school
0:39.8	district across this nation. Union leaders warn deep cuts to the Department of Education
0:45.2	will hurt students. It's Wednesday, March 12th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston.
1:00.2	I'm Ashley Locke, filling in for Chris Bentley.
1:05.0	Today on the show, a state employee in Texas has been fired for refusing to remove his pronouns from his work email signature.
1:13.7	Why Frank Zamora took a stand that cost him his job.
1:17.6	And it's the end of an era.
1:20.1	Southwest will soon start charging passengers to check bags for the first time.
1:24.6	The question, will the airline earn more in bag fees than it loses in affection from customers
1:31.0	who liked the airline the way it was?
1:33.6	But first, the Department of Education has announced its cutting nearly half its staff.
1:39.3	Education Secretary Linda McMahon says this reduction in force is the first step in eliminating the department.
1:46.7	But that would require an act of Congress.
1:49.5	Deepa Fernandez spoke with Kalin Belcha, an education reporter at our editorial partner, Chalkbeat,
1:55.4	and started out asking what's going to happen to the people losing their jobs.
1:59.5	We know a little bit about who was laid
2:01.7	off based on a list that the union that represents a lot of the people who were cut,
	...

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