Education Department prepares to lay off roughly half its staff

The Education Department on Tuesday announced a drastic reduction in its workforce, saying it’s preparing to cut about half of its staff.

About 2,100 career employees will receive termination notices and will be given an opportunity to return to office to turn in government property and clean out desks on Wednesday, according to two officials.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement that the layoffs reflect the department’s “commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”

Around 3,000 people work in the Washington headquarters, and roughly 1,000 are staffed in 10 regional offices — making it one of the smallest Cabinet-level federal departments. Its $268 billion appropriations last year represented 4% of the federal budget.

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The layoffs at the Education Department are the latest in a series of mass and often indeterminant firings across the government as part of an Elon Musk-led effort to quickly reduce the federal footprint. The terminations at the Education Department also serve as a prelude to President Donald Trump’s plan to shut down the cabinet-level agency, and raise questions about what will happen to enforcement of school civil rights laws and federal education funding.