Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, attends a hearing of the Health, Education, and Labor Committee on her nomination, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)2025-03-11T22:03:05Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Education Department plans to lay off over 1,300 of its more than 4,000 employees as part of a reorganization thats seen as a prelude to President Donald Trumps plan to dismantle the agency.Department officials announced the cuts Tuesday, raising questions about the agencys ability to continue usual operations. The layoffs are part of a dramatic downsizing directed by Trump as he moves to reduce the footprint of the federal government. Thousands of jobs are expected to be cut across the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and other agencies. The department is also terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, said Rachel Oglesby, the departments chief of staff. She said the changes would not affect the agencys Office for Civil Rights or its functions mandated by Congress, such as the distribution of federal aid to schools. The Trump administration had already been whittling the agencys staff, though buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees. After Tuesdays layoffs, the Education Departments staff will sit at roughly half of its previous 4,000, Oglesby said. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told employees to brace for profound cuts in a memo issued March 3, the day she was confirmed by the Senate. She said it was the departments final mission to eliminate bureaucratic bloat and turn over the agencys authority to states. The department sent an email to employees Tuesday telling them its Washington headquarters and regional offices would be closed Wednesday, with access forbidden, before reopening Thursday. The only reason given for the closures was unspecified security reasons. Trump campaigned on a promise to close the department, saying it had been overtaken by radicals, zealots and Marxists. At McMahons confirmation hearing, she acknowledged only Congress has the power to abolish the agency but said it might be due for cuts and a reorganization. Whether the cuts will be felt by Americas students as Democrats and advocates fear is yet to be seen. Already there are concerns the administrations agenda has pushed aside some of the agencys most fundamental work, including the enforcement of civil rights for students with disabilities and the management of $1.6 trillion in federal student loans.McMahon told lawmakers at her hearing that her aim is not to defund core programs, but to make them more efficient.Even before the layoffs, the Education Department was among the smallest Cabinet-level agencies. Its workforce included 3,100 people in Washington and an additional 1,100 at regional offices across the country, according to a department website.The departments workers had faced increasing pressure to quit their jobs since Trump took office, first through a deferred resignation program and then through a $25,000 buyout offer that expired March 3. The buyout offer came with a warning that there would be significant layoffs in the near future.___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. COLLIN BINKLEY Binkley covers the U.S. Education Department and federal education policy for The Associated Press, along with a wide range of issues from K-12 through higher education. twitter mailto