The U.S. Department of Education late Tuesday announced a massive reduction in force, with plans to slash nearly half of its workforce, impacting all divisions within the federal agency — some “requiring significant reorganization,” according to an announcement by U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
The cuts, along with previously accepted employee “buyouts,” will drop the department’s employee count from 4,133 when President Donald Trump was inaugurated Jan. 20 to approximately 2,183 — affecting over 1,900 employees.
Tuesday’s move means more than 1,300 employees are being fired. The department said these employees will be put on administrative leave beginning March 21. The reduction in force also includes nearly 600 employees who accepted “voluntary resignation opportunities and retirement” in the past seven weeks.
McMahon, in Tuesday’s announcement, said the decision to cut its staff in half “reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”
In what she called a “significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system,” the move makes good on Trump’s promise to gut the department. His eventual and oft-stated goal is to shut it altogether.
The layoffs are expected to result in shuttering several regional offices, according to The Center for Education Reform, which advocates for school choice.
However, the department said it will continue operating programs required by law, such as formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for children with disabilities, and competitive grants.
The sweeping layoffs follow McMahon’s announcement on her first day in office to end “bureaucratic bloat” at the agency. The administration had already moved to cancel $881 million in research grants prior to McMahon’s March 3 confirmation, and has since escalated its efforts to trim down the agency.
McMahon’s initial cuts were expected to be followed by an executive order from Trump further gutting the department. Although that order has not materialized as of yet, Tuesday’s announcement pushes forward with his agenda to dismantle the agency.
Some support that end goal.
“Reductions such as this are a great start and are long overdue,” said Lindsey Burke, director for the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, and Jonathan Butcher, a senior research fellow at the conservative think tank, in a statement reacting to Tuesday’s announcement. “The Department of Education has failed to fulfill its objectives,” they said.
Burke and Butcher’s sentiments echo those of conservative leaders pushing for the department’s elimination and citing its budget as a major pain point.
While shuttering the agency entirely is not possible without congressional approval — which is considered unlikely given the closely divided Congress — hollowing it out could still have a significant impact, education policy experts and education leaders have warned.
Among its many responsibilities, the department is in charge of investigating civil rights violations to ensure all students have equal access to education, conducting research to guide schools and colleges in improving student outcomes, and administering the Nation’s Report Card, which has been key in tracking student performance following COVID-19 school closures.
With a significantly reduced labor force, it’s possible that much of this gets thrown into “chaos,” education experts have warned.
“This isn’t reform. It’s sabotage,” said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, in a statement Tuesday evening responding to the layoffs. “Eliminating this critical infrastructure weakens our nation, erodes opportunity, and makes it even harder for families to advocate for the resources and support their children need.”
Sheria Smith, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents over 2,800 workers at the Education Department, said in a Tuesday statement that the organization plans to “fight these draconian cuts.”
“We will not stand idly by while this regime pulls the wool over the eyes of the American people,” Smith said.
Similar sentiments came from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union. “Denuding an agency so it cannot function effectively is the most cowardly way of dismantling it,” Weingarten said in a statement.
Weingarten urged Congress and the courts to intervene, saying the “callous move will directly impact the 90 percent of students who attend public schools.”
