The Education Department says it will cut nearly 50% of staff

The statement confirms “all divisions” within the agency will be hit by cuts, but also says it will continue to deliver programs protected by law “including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”

According to the announcement, more than 1,300 positions will be cut as a result of this reduction in force. Roughly another 600 employees accepted voluntary resignations or retired over the last two months.

AFGE Local 252, a union that represents Education Department employees, released a statement in which its president, Sheria Smith, said, “We will fight these draconian cuts and urge all Americans to stand up and contact their Members of Congress…to protect the Department of Education’s vital work, working people, and our Nation by rejecting these political games.”

Department employees have spent the past several weeks anticipating sweeping staff cuts by the Trump administration.

This Thursday, agency heads are expected to turn in their “reorganization” plans to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

A guidance memo from OMB and OPM sent in late February instructed agency heads to achieve “large-scale reductions in force (RIFs)” through attrition and “by eliminating positions that are not required.”

Already, at least 75 Education Department staff have been placed on paid administrative leave, according to a tally by AFGE Local 252. This count does not include managers and supervisors. Many of those workers on paid leave attended a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion workshop the department has offered for many years, including during the first Trump administration.

The union also says at least 75 probationary department staff, who were hired more recently and are legally easier to lay off, have also had their jobs terminated.