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Trump Announces Another Education Department Nominee

By Alyson Klein — October 29, 2017 1 min read
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President Donald Trump has tapped Douglas Webster, the current director of risk management at the U.S. Agency of International Development, to be the chief financial officer at the U.S. Department of Education. The CFO is generally a managerial position, not a policy-making one.

Webster spent 21 years in the Air Force and then has another 24 of federal financial management experience. He previously held the CFO position at the U.S. Department of Labor. Trump nominated Webster on Friday.

The Trump administration has announced at least four big nominees to the department in recent weeks. The White House has tapped former South Carolina schools chief Mick Zais as deputy secretary, and named assistant secretaries for civil rights, career and technical education, and planning, evaluation, and policy. But the Trump team is well behind the Obama administration in filling the department’s top ranks.

One hire to watch for: Advocates say it’s likely that Frank Brogan, who served as the lieutenant governor of Florida under former GOP Gov. Jeb Bush, could be tapped for assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education. And he may take on an expanded portfolio, including some of the work that is typically done by the assistant secretary of the office of innovation and improvement. (We wrote more about Brogan and his background back in August.)

Meanwhile, the department is looking to slash some of its workforce, the Washington Post reports. Employees at the office of federal student aid were offered buyouts on Friday. The move is part of a broader effort to shrink the agency.

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