After Department Of Education Lays Off 50% Of Workforce, Secretary Linda McMahon Vows More Upheaval

The U.S. Department of Education announced it had initiated mass layoffs this week, cutting down staff by about half. Impacted department staff will be placed on administrative leave beginning March 21. The layoffs are a preliminary action to President Donald Trump‘s plans to reduce the size of the federal workforce and dismantle the Department of Education.

An email sent to employees Tuesday told staff around the country not to come to work on March 12. Some 1,315 employees were affected by the “reduction in force” notices, leaving 2,183 employed by the department, senior officials at the DOE told ABC News.

>EDUCATION SEC. LINDA MCMAHON REFUSES TO SAY IF BLACK HISTORY COURSES WILL BE ALLOWED

The agency mainly manages financial support for education programs. It distributes billions in federal money to schools and colleges and manages the federal student loan portfolio. As of January 2024, the department held $1.5 trillion in federal loans for nearly 43 million borrowers, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In an official statement the department said it will “continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”

The swift action to reduce the workforce has raised questions about what it may mean for student loans. The reduction also resulted in the abolishing of more than half of the offices that investigate civil rights complaints from students and their families.

Civil rights complaints targeting educational institutions have traditionally been handled by a network of regional offices nationwide. However, that number is now being reduced to five.

ProPublica reported that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will close its offices in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The remaining offices will be located in Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

As one of the federal government’s primary enforcers of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the OCR investigates thousands of discrimination cases annually, including those based on race, gender and disability.

“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,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon shortly after the notifications went out on Tuesday, ABC News reported.

“I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the Department,” she said. “This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system.”

Those who remained employed by the DOE received their own email which said, in part: “As we move forward, our mission and responsibilities will remain, but there will need to be significant changes to the way that we work. What we choose to prioritize, and in turn, not prioritize, will be critical in this transition.”