Education Department To Slash Half Its Workforce

The Education Department will begin cutting more than 1,300 people from its workforce and terminating some of its office leases across the country this week, as part of the Trump administration's broader effort to cull the size of the U.S. government’s smallest Cabinet agency.

An agency official told reporters Tuesday that the job cuts being finalized over the coming weeks are expected to affect roughly half of the agency's workforce.

The official said the department focused on cutting teams whose operations are redundant or not necessary to serve its core functions.

"We have a department now that exists largely to oversee contractors, add strings, and in many cases, do duplicative efforts across the department," the official said.

Employees affected by Tuesday's announced force reduction will have 90 days until they are actually terminated and will receive full pay and benefits during this time, in addition to severance pay.

Earlier on Tuesday, the agency closed its Washington-area offices for unspecified "security reasons,” according to a notice sent to agency employees.

Department employees were told to vacate the building by 6 p.m., according to the Tuesday notice, and have been allowed to work from home on Wednesday if they have approved telework agreements.

"Employees will not be permitted in any ED facility on Wednesday, March 12th", for any reason," the message said.

All offices were set to reopen to in-person work on March 13th, according to the notice.

Amanda Friedman contributed to this report.