Department of Education To Cut Half Its Workforce

Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Department of Education on March 11 announced that 1,315 employees—about half its workforce—will be laid off within 90 days as part of its ongoing cost-saving measures.

A senior official told reporters in a press call that the staff reduction addresses redundancies in the communications, human resources, information technology, and other offices within the department.

The affected workers were to be notified via email at 6 p.m. on March 11. The Washington, D.C., office will be closed on March 12 for safety protocols, and the senior official said the workers are expected to work remotely with full pay and benefits through March 21. They will then be placed on administrative leave, with pay, through June 9.

The laid-off staffers will be awarded severance payments based on their years of service, with the most senior members receiving up to 20 weeks of salary.

The agency said about 600 of its 4,133 employees have already agreed to leave voluntarily, including 313 who accepted $25,000 buyout offers last week.

Department of Education offices outside of Washington, including New York, Boston, Dallas, Chicago, and San Francisco, will be closed. The dates are based on current leases and were not revealed. The senior official said that after the closures, all employees will work in one building in Washington.

The senior official said the staff reduction will not affect any of the department’s services, including college financial aid loan and grants functions, Title 1 funding for low-income students, special education funding, and civil rights functions.

She said these decisions were carefully thought out and will make the agency more efficient.

“What we are doing now is not working,” she said. “It’s just not.”

The Department of Education noted that the pay for administrative leave and severance packages is pursuant to federal regulations and the provisions of the unionized employees’ contract.

“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,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.

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

The Education Department said some divisions will require “significant reorganization to better serve students, parents, educators, and taxpayers.”

This latest cost-saving effort follows the cancellation of $900 million in contracts related to the department’s Education Sciences agency and $101 million in contracts linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion training in education.

Those planned reductions were verified last month.

President Donald Trump previously noted his intention to shrink the Department of Education, move its functions to other federal agencies or states, and eventually eliminate it.

McMahon supports Trump’s plan to dissolve the department and eliminate her position after the agency’s functions and funding streams are moved to other federal agencies or states.

She previously told federal lawmakers that only Congress, which created the agency in 1979, has the authority to eliminate it.

Last week, McMahon said she would continue working with the Department of Government Efficiency to identify potential departmental reductions. Only 47 cents of every dollar her agency provides to states makes it to classrooms, she said, and most of the federal money is spent on compliance with regulations.