Associated Press
The Education Department plans to lay off more than 1,300 of its employees as part of an effort to halve the organization’s staff — 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 Trump administration had already been whittling the agency’s staff, though buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees. After Tuesday’s layoffs, the Education Department’s staff will sit at roughly half of its previous 4,100, the agency said.
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, officials said.
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.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said when she got to the department, she wanted to reduce bloat to be able to send more money to local education authorities.
“So many of the programs are really excellent, so we need to make sure the money goes to the states,” McMahon said in an interview Tuesday on Fox News.
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 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.
Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform, which advocates for charter school expansion, said the cuts were important and necessary.
“Ending incessant federal interference will free up state and local leaders to foster more opportunities to give schools and educators true flexibility and innovation to address the needs of students, wherever they are educated,” Allen said.
Some advocates were skeptical of the department’s claim that its functions would not be affected by the layoffs.
“I don’t see at all how that can be true,” said Roxanne Garza, who was chief of staff in the Office of Postsecondary Education under President Joe Biden.
Much of what the department does, like investigating civil rights complaints and helping families apply for financial aid, is labor intensive, said Garza, who is now director of higher education policy at Education Trust, a research and advocacy organization. “How those things will not be impacted with far fewer staff … I just don’t see it.”
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press
40 comments
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
March 12, 2025 at 7:47 am
Goid Morn’Ting Sage American Business Owners,
These Education employees we let go are the worst of the worst. So be carefull and dont hire them.
We are directing them to the fields to pick fruits and vegatables to replace all the deported illegals.
Thank you, Sage American Business Owners,
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
Skeptic
March 12, 2025 at 5:43 pm
Agree. Pink Floyd said it best — We don’t need no education. And some of us did not get any.
Oscar
March 14, 2025 at 9:47 pm
Clearly you did not! Hilarious.
A White Spiteful Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Watse
March 20, 2025 at 2:14 pm
I do not .know why some White people aspire to be ignorant,maybe because they do.not know better or doing it willingly,only you know this
Michael K
March 12, 2025 at 7:50 am
Another billionaire toady – this time a pro wrestling franchise — destroying America from within. Public education has been a target of Republicans for years. This is nothing more than an effort to siphon tax dollars into unaccountable “Christian” private schools.
If you think public education is too expensive, look at what ignorance, greed, and stupidity is doing to this nation.
Peachy
March 12, 2025 at 8:56 am
Keep it at the state level right? That’s what you libs want in regards to men in women’s sports, DEI, etc. Selective enforcement by the zombie force.
A White Spiteful Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Watse
March 20, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Lots of White people should wonder ,if their is a conspiracy to keep some White people ignorant,since someone can benefit from you been ignorance,being ignorant is something,no one should aspire to be
Peachy
March 12, 2025 at 9:43 am
The largest portion of my property tax bill goes to the county schools.
Skeptic
March 12, 2025 at 5:44 pm
And what have you gotten for it under the GOP educational system? Best in the world, no?
Peachy
March 12, 2025 at 8:19 pm
Haven’t used it a single day. But I still pay.
JD
March 12, 2025 at 6:13 pm
And now they won’t have the DOE suppliment. Your property tax will be supplimenting more of it. FAFO.
MarvinM
March 14, 2025 at 1:49 am
Well, yeah, because Florida has an extremely regressive tax base.
Even before Trump, Florida had to rely on local millage rates to fund local services and schools. When economic times get tough, they have to raise rates. We are one of only a few states (out of the 50) that do not have a state income tax.
There’s pretty much nothing else schools and police departments and fire departments can do to keep themselves solvent but rely on funds from millage rates.
Don’t forget – someone has to pay the police and fire department. And it ain’t the federal government (although sometimes they do add extras to the departments(s)
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
March 12, 2025 at 9:58 am
Just a quick update, Sage American Business Owners,
These Education Dept. former employers in the first round of layoffs are the worst of the worst.
YOU KNOW:
The fatty fats, the Kool-Aid hair color, nose ring wearing, needing deoderant, crock wearing ones.
So, again, Sage American Business Owners, dont hire from these “First Cuts”, allow us to oversee them working in the feilds to see if we can trim down the fatty fats and teach them good American Working values along with an appropriate dress code and ethics. After a few growing/harvesting seasons we will be able to “Turn Them Out” on the regular job market.
Thank you, Sage American Business Owners,
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
Ron Ogden
March 12, 2025 at 10:02 am
If public education were doing the job it was intended to do, which is to bring all young people to a level of comprehension that is necessary for the maintenance of society, there would be much broader support for it. But it isn’t and there isn’t–especially when it is under such unrelenting attack from special interests who think having sex books in school libraries is a necessary expression of the First Amendment or who think that the quality of education relates directly to the size of the teacher’s paycheck. Looking back on my education now a half century ago, I can tell you that the quality of the young minds entering the system is as high as it ever was, but the quality of the minds leaving the system has dropped remarkably. IMHO, this is more than half the cause of the present deterioration of America. Public education: we no longer know how to do it.
Skeptic
March 12, 2025 at 5:46 pm
Sad to see all of these ills brought on by GOP control of the state for 30 years. If only there was another way . . .
Ron Ogden
March 12, 2025 at 6:01 pm
In fact, skeptic, the past three decades in Florida has seen steady and successful effort by the GOP to change the way we teach our children by offering ever more choice of schools to parents–all while still meeting the state constitutional requirement of offering a free public education to those who want it. Achieving this delicate balance between the failing world of the moment and the promise of a better world in the future, all while being undercut by the ever-shrinking minority of liberals and their allies in the union and the press, has been a testimony to how well the GOP, its legislators and its executives have been able to do politics and public administration.
JD
March 12, 2025 at 6:10 pm
The voucher program and charter schools are just more efficient ways to scam Florida taxpayers out of their hard-earned money, funneling it to underqualified ‘educators.’ Who needs accountability when there’s profit to be made?
TJC
March 17, 2025 at 12:07 pm
A “steady and successful effort by the GOP to change the way we teach our children” does not mean it is a better way, it’s just a different way, one with no accountability — no meaningful measures for the alleged success of for-profit charter schools, taxpayer-paid private schools, homeschooling, etc. The only thing for sure? Adults are getting taxpayers’ money to spend as they please and we have no idea if the children are better off.
Peachy
March 12, 2025 at 8:20 pm
You could always move. Take Kalifornia for example. Let us know how your money goes out there in the highest tax state in the nation.
JD
March 12, 2025 at 5:58 pm
The claim that public education has failed because of liberal influence is contradicted by the fact that Florida’s education system has been run by Republicans for nearly 30 years. If it is broken, it is because of their policies, including low funding, restrictive curriculum changes, and teacher shortages. The blame lies not with vague “special interests” but with those who have actually been in charge. So keep crowing about BS you caused. It’s like playing chess with a pigeon. You knock over all the pieces, sh!t on the board, and then strut around like you won something.
Ron Ogden
March 12, 2025 at 6:06 pm
JD, you persist in inspiring my sympathy. I cannot image what life must be like to have one’s nightmares beset by visions of pigeons
creating havoc on chessboards.
And I’ll bet they’re bigger pigeons than you, aren’t they, and they are all ganging up on you.
JD
March 12, 2025 at 6:07 pm
Sympathy falls between ‘sh*t’ and ‘syphilis’ in the dictionary. You can keep it.
Ron Ogden
March 12, 2025 at 6:07 pm
OMG, I’ll be they’re all wearing little bitty pigeon-sized MAGA hats. Chilling!
JD
March 12, 2025 at 6:11 pm
You cannot spell HATRED without REDHAT. Real news and fact checked.
JD
March 12, 2025 at 6:12 pm
Again, as you strut around like those same pigons. Pathetic.
Oscar
March 14, 2025 at 6:17 pm
JD is what happens when everything you know comes from Tick Tock. Narcissistic, pompous, ignorant and utterly lacking in self awareness.
PeterH
March 12, 2025 at 11:05 am
The American economy is primarily fueled by investors who have confidence in the country’s economic fundamentals and leadership. 30% of our market participants are foreign nationals who are lost in Trump’s ability to govern.
Peachy
March 12, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Come on Peter H. Do you believe those foreigners are in it for the long haul? They are probably day trading like many Americans. I don’t pay attention to CNBC, ie the gambling channel. I’m a passive investor that is diversified. I sleep well at night.
Oscar
March 14, 2025 at 4:08 pm
Where exactly will they invest their money? Authoritarian socialist Europe? Communist China? Third World Africa? India? Good luck with that.
Wendy
March 12, 2025 at 11:05 pm
Despite wasting, sorry spending billions of dollars since the creation of the Department of Education outcomes nationwide have deteriorated on both an absolute and a relative basis. If that doesn’t constitute failure then nothing does. Elimination is the only remedy.
Oscar
March 14, 2025 at 6:12 pm
Exactly! Well put. But then woke socialists wouldn’t have billions of dollars to waste on indoctrinating our kids and teaching nonsense like gender is a spectrum.
Oscar
March 15, 2025 at 4:07 pm
Peter Schorsch Why do my comments wait in moderation purgatory? Your bias is showing.
Oscar
March 21, 2025 at 9:25 pm
Only 22 hours in moderation purgatory. Reprieve! Reprieve!
KathrynA
March 13, 2025 at 2:51 pm
Please let us know where the money will come from and how will the severely disabled be taught and cared for in the state of Florida. Give Special Education teachers our love for their patience and caring ways. Provide a way where these children can continue to be taught.
SuzyQ
March 13, 2025 at 5:29 pm
Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education has been a part of the Republican Party’s official platform since 1979. President Ronald Reagan made it a cornerstone of his re-election campaign in 1984. He would go to be re-elected in one of the greatest landslides in U.S. history. He never fulfilled this particular campaign promise because Democrats controlled Congress.
TJC
March 17, 2025 at 12:19 pm
You claim Reagan didn’t shut down the DOE “…because Democrats controlled Congress.” Actually, he never really tried, and in fact he made it bigger. Reagan saw an opportunity to stuff the Department of Education with conservatives, one of whom I knew personally. One of the tricks they pulled off was, in the words of my acquaintance, to “find statistics that prove private schools are superior to public schools.” The key word there is “find.” As in cherry-pick.
Reagan saw an opportunity to push America in the direction of for-profit education. It was about money, not about a better education for American children.
Oscar
March 14, 2025 at 4:06 pm
What will all the children that go to Department of Education run public schools do? Doh. There aren’t any. Not one.
Wait, won’t educational outcomes decline without the Department of Education? Doh. They have been for years, despite spending taxpayers money like there’s no tomorrow.
Close the Department of Education now. Good riddance.
Biscuit
March 17, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Doh? Doh?
You quote Homer Simpson to convince us you know about the politics of education in America today?
Then again, “doh” is a big part of saying “DOGE.” And sounds just as stupid.
You know what they say, “Can’t teach an old human new tricks.” Duh!
Arf.
Wendy
March 17, 2025 at 12:34 pm
Doth protest too much methinks, “Biscuit”!
Oscar
March 21, 2025 at 9:23 pm
So, it looks like you don’t actually have a substantive response. Well, judging by your vapid and childish posts I wasn’t expecting much anyway.
Comments are closed.