Education Department to slash nearly one-third of its workforce with sweeping RIFs

The Education Department is preparing to lay off a significant portion of its workforce, with cuts expected to take place Tuesday evening. 

The layoffs, or reductions in force, will impact roughly 1,300 employees, around 31% of Education’s 4,200 employees, according to two sources briefed on the matter. President Trump has vowed to eliminate the department altogether, with certain statutory functions likely transferring to other agencies. Trump was expected to sign an executive order to help facilitate that effort, though he has yet to do so. 

The RIFs are expected to align with the wholesale elimination of offices throughout the department. Education’s Grant Policy Office and Performance Improvement Office are expected to be among those cut. 

All Education employees are expected to receive an email Tuesday evening that will notify them of whether they will be retained or laid off, the sources said.  

"I am writing to acknowledge the difficult workforce restructuring we are undergoing," Jacqueline Clay, the department's chief human capital officer, said in an email to employees who will remain at the department. "Today, many of our colleagues received a separate communication notifying them that they will be impacted by the upcoming Reduction in Force (RIF)."

Education has the smallest workforce of any cabinet-level federal department. It is currently led by Secretary Linda McMahon, who told lawmakers in her confirmation hearing she would seek to implement Trump’s vision to close the department. 

Prior to the RIFs, Education offered buyouts of up to $25,000 to most of its employees. They had to accept the offer by March 3 and the department warned it may not deem eligible all those who accept the offer. About 300 employees accepted the buyout, according to an employee briefed on the initiative. Those employees will separate by March 21. 

The layoffs followed Education sending an email to all employees Tuesday at 2 p.m. telling them they must vacate all offices in the Washington region by 6 p.m. and they would remain closed through Wednesday “for security reasons.” Employees with telework agreements will be permitted to work on Wednesday. 

Education has been in the crosshairs of numerous politicians since its creation in 1980. President Reagan pledged to eliminate it, as have Republican lawmakers ever since in numerous failed bills. Trump’s Education secretary in his first term, Betsy DeVos, said after her tenure the agency she led “should not exist.”

The president has called on all federal agencies to come up with plans to downsize their workforces through RIFs, with those blueprints due later this week. Education joins the Office of Personnel Management, General Services Administration and U.S. Agency for International Development in issuing widespread layoffs to date. Agencies could ultimately lay off hundreds of thousands of employees if they follow through on Trump’s directives.

"These changes can bring a mix of emotions—grief for those we will miss, uncertainty about the future, and concern for the work that lies ahead," Clay added in her email. "Please know that these decisions were not made lightly, and in no way reflect on the dedication and hard work of those who are leaving."

Trump proposed merging the departments of Education and Labor into the Department of Education and the Workforce, but Congress never took up the suggestion.

“On day one, we will begin to find and remove the radicals, zealots and Marxists who have infiltrated the federal Department of Education, and that also includes others, and you know who you are,” Trump said during his campaign. “Because we are not going to allow anyone to hurt our children.”