More than 1,300 Department of Education staffers were terminated by the Trump administration on Tuesday after all employees received an ominous notice instructing them to stay home from work.
“Today we are beginning the process to cut the total number of staff at the Department of Education roughly in half,” a senior Department of Education official said Tuesday.
As part of the “reduction in force” process, 1,315 DOE employees have been laid off.
The official noted that nearly 600 people have already left the department via “voluntary measures,” such as through the federal Deferred Resignation Program and a separate department buyout initiative offered to employees earlier this month, as the Trump administration works to “streamline” the agency.
Another 63 staffers on probationary employment, with less than a year of service time, were fired last month.
“We are focusing on eliminating full teams whose operations are either redundant or not necessary for the functioning of the department,” the official added, indicating 131 total teams will be terminated.
Employees receiving termination notices will get 90 days of full pay and benefits until they are formally fired and will also receive severance pay in the amount of one week’s salary for every year of service beyond 10 years.
“We’re going to have these folks roll over their responsibilities by Friday, March 21st. They will then go on paid administrative leave until the reduction in force is complete,” the official added. “They will be teleworking from tomorrow until March 21st. Then all of that is being done for safety reasons to protect the 2,183 employees that are going to remain after the RIF is complete.”
The official cited student test scores plummeting despite over $1 trillion in federal spending from the department since its inception as the reason for the dramatic cuts.
“We have an incredible leader in Secretary [Linda] McMahon, who has built a multibillion dollar global business and has handled restructuring several times before,” the official noted. “And all of this is being done with a very careful eye towards making education better, reducing bureaucracy and empowering the states to take charge of their own education decisions.”
Earlier in the day, DOE staffers in the department’s Washington, DC offices were told their buildings would be closed for “security reasons” on Wednesday, as reports circulated that mass layoffs were imminent.
“Employees will not be permitted in any ED facility on Wednesday, March 12th, for any reason,” read the email sent to staffers by James Hairfield, who is with the department’s Office of Security, Facilities and Logistics.
Last month, Hairfield blocked a handful of House Democrats from storming into the DOE building as Department of Government Accountability (DOGE) staffers embedded themselves within the agency.
Hairfield’s directive further instructed DOE employees to bring their laptops home with them when leaving the office on Tuesday.
The reduction follows through with President Trump’s pledge to “eliminate” the Department of Education on the campaign trail.
In December, Trump told Time magazine that he planned for at least a “virtual closure” of the agency.
A White House official told The Post last month that the president – who prefers giving the states a larger role over individual education systems – is “reevaluating the future of the Department of Education.”
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is expected to sign an executive order to direct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
Abolishing the Department of Education would require congressional approval and including at least 60 votes in the Senate for such a plan to move forward.
