AILSA CHANG, HOST:
We begin this hour with upheaval at the U.S. Department of Education. The White House has confirmed to NPR the broad outlines of a plan to use executive action to shrink and potentially dismantle it. The news comes as dozens of department employees have already been put on paid administrative leave. NPR's Cory Turner has been following the story and joins us now. Hi, Cory.
CORY TURNER, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so I want to start with these workers who have been just put on leave. Like, what do we know about them and why have they been told to stop working immediately?
TURNER: Well, we know that over the course of the last week, some department workers began receiving a pretty vague email. We're talking at least 74 nonmanagement workers so far. That's according to a union that represents federal employees at the department. In this email, Ailsa, it says, quote, "you will be placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits pursuant to the president's executive order on DEIA," end quote. And it says that this is not being done for any disciplinary purpose. And I have heard from both the Education Department and the White House in the last 24 hours, and they confirmed that these moves are about rooting out DEI programs in the Education Department.
CHANG: OK. Well, I know that you've had a chance to talk with some of these workers who have been put on leave. What are they telling you?
TURNER: Oh, they're telling me a very different story. They say none of them actually works on DEI programs. Instead, they work on education policy in suboffices all across the department. The one thing, Ailsa, they all seem to have in common is that they attended, at some point, a short diversity workshop the department has offered for years, even going back to the first Trump administration. In fact, I have an email sent in June 2020 by a Trump political appointee congratulating employees for being chosen to serve on a department diversity committee. And I know that several employees who served on that Trump-era committee are now on paid administrative leave.
CHANG: Interesting. OK, well, what about this executive action to make even bigger cuts at the Education Department, potentially? Like, what can you tell us about these possible plans?
TURNER: Earlier today, the White House confirmed the outlines of a kind of two-pronged strategy. The action will instruct the education secretary to start by essentially cutting the low-hanging fruit, and by that, I mean programs at the department that were not created by Congress, and that means they're not protected in statute. The challenge here is the department's big-ticket responsibilities were all very clearly created by Congress and would essentially require a vote of Congress to cut them or even to move them outside of the Education Department.
CHANG: And what kinds of programs fit that description?
TURNER: Yeah, so these are the signature programs, Ailsa, including administering Title I, which sends billions of dollars to big-city and small-town schools that serve lots of low-income families. It's administering IDEA, that's the federal civil rights law that protects the rights of students with disabilities. And it's managing the $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio. Now, again, I have not seen this executive action - it hasn't been issued yet - but the White House acknowledged that changing or moving these things would require Congress and that this action will call on the education secretary to draft a plan for Congress to do just that. The question then will be, are lawmakers going to go along with it?
CHANG: Exactly. OK, well, when should we be expecting this potential executive action?
TURNER: Well, my sources now tell me the White House is likely to wait to issue this action until after Linda McMahon has her Senate confirmation hearing. She is Trump's nominee to become the next education secretary, and that hearing has not yet been scheduled.
CHANG: That is NPR's Cory Turner. Thank you so much, Cory.
TURNER: You're welcome, Ailsa. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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