Nearly half of Department of Education staff will be eliminated imminently

Department of Education staff will receive “reduction in force” notices Tuesday before nearly half of the department’s workforce is terminated, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Earlier Tuesday, a memo was sent to all Education Department employees informing them that Department of Education offices will be closed Tuesday evening through Wednesday due to “security reasons.” Employees were instructed to leave the offices by 6 p.m. ET Tuesday. 

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would like states to control education. He campaigned on the issue ahead of the 2024 election. 

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would like the states control education. He campaigned on the issue ahead of the 2024 election.  (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“I want to close up Department of Education, move education back to the states,” Trump said in August 2024, while noting left-wing states such as California could struggle if he does eliminate the Department of Education. “Of the 50 (states), I would bet that 35 would do great. And 15 of them, or, you know, 20 of them, will be as good as Norway. You know, Norway is considered great.” 

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The expected “reduction in force” notices come after reports spread in recent days that Trump was readying to sign an executive order to abolish the federal agency.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported it had reviewed a copy of a draft executive order that would order Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.” 

“The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support — has failed our children, our teachers, and our families,” the draft order said, according to the Journal. 

Linda McMahon sent a letter to all staff on her first day on the job earlier in March saying she would lead a “momentous final mission” to send education back to the states.  (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press)

McMahon additionally sent a letter to all staff on her first day on the job in March saying she will lead a “momentous final mission” to send education back to the states. 

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“Our job is to respect the will of the American people and the President they elected, who has tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of bureaucratic bloat here at the Department of Education — a momentous final mission — quickly and responsibly,” McMahon wrote to employees in a letter shared first with Fox News Digital.

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The secretary said that the reconstruction of the department will “profoundly” alter staff, budgets and agency operations. 

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.