The Education Department is set to lay off over 1,300 employees as part of a larger plan to cut its staff by half—a move that’s seen as part of President Donald Trump’s goal to dismantle the agency. Officials announced the layoffs on Tuesday, sparking concerns about the department’s ability to keep up with its usual operations.
This isn’t the first time the department has been trimmed. Under the Trump administration, there have already been staff reductions through buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees. After these latest layoffs, the department’s workforce will be about half of what it was, dropping from 4,100 to around 2,000, according to the agency.
This downsizing is a key part of Trump’s broader push to reduce the size of the federal government, with thousands of jobs also expected to be cut at agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration. In addition to the layoffs, the department is ending leases for offices in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, and Cleveland.
Despite the cuts, officials say the department will continue its essential work, including distributing federal aid to schools, managing student loans, and overseeing Pell Grants.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in an interview with Fox News, said she came into the department with a goal of cutting excess bureaucracy to ensure more money goes directly to local education authorities. “We need to make sure the money goes to the states,” she explained.
In a memo sent to staff just before she was confirmed by the Senate on March 3, McMahon warned employees to expect major cuts, explaining that the department’s “final mission” was to streamline operations and shift more control to state governments.
On Tuesday, the department informed employees that its Washington headquarters and regional offices would be closed on Wednesday due to “security reasons,” though it’s unclear exactly what prompted the closure. The offices are expected to reopen on Thursday.
Trump had previously campaigned on a promise to eliminate the Education Department altogether, claiming it had been overtaken by “radicals, zealots, and Marxists.” While McMahon acknowledged during her confirmation hearing that only Congress has the power to abolish the agency, she hinted that cuts and reorganization were likely.
How these cuts will affect American students remains unclear, though there are already worries that essential work—such as enforcing civil rights for students with disabilities and managing $1.6 trillion in federal student loans—could suffer. McMahon has insisted that the goal isn’t to defund core programs but to make them more efficient.
Even before the layoffs, the Education Department was one of the smallest Cabinet-level agencies, with around 3,100 employees in Washington and an additional 1,100 in regional offices.
Under Trump, the department has been pushing employees to leave voluntarily, first with a deferred resignation program and then through a $25,000 buyout offer that expired on March 3.
Some advocates, like Jeanne Allen from the Center for Education Reform, which supports charter school expansion, argue that the cuts are necessary. “Ending incessant federal interference will free up state and local leaders to create more opportunities and give schools the flexibility they need to meet students’ needs,” she said.
However, others are skeptical that the department can maintain its core functions with a significantly smaller workforce. Roxanne Garza, former chief of staff at the Office of Postsecondary Education under President Biden, said, “I don’t see how that can be true.” She pointed out that much of the department’s work, like investigating civil rights complaints and helping families apply for financial aid, is labor-intensive. “How will these things not be impacted with far fewer staff? I just don’t see it.”
