One of the agency’s most affected offices was the division that helps states check each year to see if children are learning at grade level.
President Trump signs executive order dismantling the Department of Education
The White House said the order would not completely dissolve the Department of Education, but would “significantly reduce” its size.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education laid off more than 460 employees on Oct. 10, sharply reducing the workforce at struggling educational institutions already struggling to serve students following deep cuts.
The numbers were made public the same day in a court filing from the Justice Department after the White House threatened a new wave of layoffs across the federal workforce.
President Donald Trump and other administration officials have suggested the layoffs are part of a broader effort to pressure Congressional Democrats to end the ongoing government shutdown. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, locked in a seemingly intractable debate over health care and immigration, have been struggling for nearly two weeks to pass a funding bill to turn the lights back on.
The new retirements, which have already been challenged in court, reduce staffing by nearly a fifth, based on the Department of Education’s latest headcount estimates for full-time and part-time staff.
The Trump administration had already cut the department in half in March through a series of acquisitions, layoffs and retirement incentives. (Following litigation, the Supreme Court largely allowed these firings to proceed while their legality was debated.) Since then, schools have reported widespread disruptions to government services, particularly in programs related to college financial aid, school oversight, and civil rights enforcement.
AFGE Local 252, the union representing Department of Education workers, said the departments most affected included the state and local teams in the Office of Communications and Outreach.
Almost the entire Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was also laid off. Among its many responsibilities, the office is responsible for ensuring that states annually check whether children are learning subjects such as reading and math at grade level.
Rachel Gittleman, president of AFGE Local 252 and a former employee who spent years assisting student loan borrowers, argued the termination was illegal.
“The Trump administration is acting as if it has impunity to cut jobs from an already lean and efficient government agency,” he said in a statement. “In March, the administration laid off more than 1,000 key employees with legally mandated roles and responsibilities, and for months we have watched department leadership micromanage staff details to fill the gaps.”
In May, Education Secretary Linda McMahon suggested in Congressional testimony that the Department of Education’s previous cuts may have gone too far. Within days of announcing those layoffs, the department quietly brought back dozens of employees, USA TODAY previously reported. Since then, more workers have been hired, public employment figures show.
“When you restructure a company, all you want to do is trim the fat,” McMahon told lawmakers. “Sometimes I’ve cut a little bit of muscle, but as I continue through the program I notice it and I can get people back.”
Nearly 90% of Department of Education employees have also been furloughed due to the shutdown.
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
