WASHINGTON — The Education Department plans to lay off over 1,300 of its more than 4,000 employees as part of a reorganization that’s seen as a prelude to President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the agency.
Department officials announced the cuts Tuesday, raising questions about the agency’s ability to continue usual operations.
The layoffs are part of a dramatic downsizing directed by Trump as he moves to reduce the footprint of the federal government. Thousands of jobs are expected to be cut across the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and other agencies.
The department is also terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, said Rachel Oglesby, the department’s chief of staff. She said the changes would not affect the agency’s Office for Civil Rights or its functions mandated by Congress, such as the distribution of federal aid to schools.
Department officials said it would continue to deliver on its key functions such as the distribution of federal aid to schools, student loan management and oversight of Pell Grants.
“Today’s reduction in force 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,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said.
McMahon told employees to brace for profound cuts in a memo issued March 3, the day she was confirmed by the Senate. She said it was the department’s “final mission” to eliminate bureaucratic bloat and turn over the agency’s authority to states.
The department sent an email sent to employees Tuesday telling them its Washington headquarters and regional offices would be closed Wednesday, with access forbidden, before reopening Thursday. The only reason given for the closures was unspecified “security reasons.”
Trump campaigned on a promise to close the department, saying it had been overtaken by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.” At McMahon’s confirmation hearing, she acknowledged only Congress has the power to abolish the agency but said it might be due for cuts and a reorganization.
Whether the cuts will be felt by America’s students — as Democrats and advocates fear — is yet to be seen. Already there are concerns the administration’s agenda has pushed aside some of the agency’s most fundamental work, including the enforcement of civil rights for students with disabilities and the management of $1.6 trillion in federal student loans.
McMahon told lawmakers at her hearing that her aim is not to defund core programs, but to make them more efficient.
Even before the layoffs, the Education Department was among the smallest Cabinet-level agencies. Its workforce included 3,100 people in Washington and an additional 1,100 at regional offices across the country, according to a department website.
The department’s workers had faced increasing pressure to quit their jobs since Trump took office, first through a deferred resignation program and then through a $25,000 buyout offer that expired March 3. The buyout offer came with a warning that there would be “significant layoffs in the near future.”
