Education Department cuts 45%

Linda McMahon used a May 14 House hearing to defend the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the U.S. Education Department while shifting parts of its work to other agencies. The hearing, before the House Committee on Education and Workforce, centered on the department’s fiscal 2027 budget request but quickly turned into a broader fight over the agency’s future. McMahon told lawmakers President Donald Trump had a “clear mandate” to “sunset” the department, while Democrats said the administration was dismantling a federal civil rights and oversight apparatus. Office of Personnel Management data cited during the hearing showed the department’s workforce had fallen to about 2,300 employees from roughly 4,200 in 2024. ### How far has the department actually been cut? The Education Department said on March 11, 2025, that it had begun a reduction in force affecting nearly 50% of its workforce. In that announcement, the department said staffing would fall from 4,133 workers when Trump was inaugurated to roughly 2,183 after the cuts, including employees who took voluntary resignations and retirement offers. (opb.org) At Thursday’s hearing, NPR reported through partner stations that OPM data showed the department at roughly 2,300 employees in 2026, down from about 4,200 in 2024. That left the agency with a substantially smaller staff than it had before the March 2025 layoffs and attrition took effect. ### What did McMahon tell Congress about the reorganization? (ed.gov) McMahon told the House panel that voters had backed Trump’s plan to reduce the federal role in education. In opening remarks quoted by NPR and other outlets, she said the administration was working to return authority “to parents, teachers and local leaders.” (opb.org) Tim Walberg, the Michigan Republican who chairs the committee, praised interagency agreements that moved some Education Department responsibilities elsewhere. Bobby Scott, the Virginia Democrat who is the committee’s top Democrat, said Trump had “empowered” McMahon to dismantle one of the country’s strongest civil rights institutions. Those competing statements framed the hearing less as a budget review than as a dispute over whether the department should continue to exist in its current form. (opb.org) ### Which duties have been shifted out of the department? NPR reported that more than 100 programs and departmental obligations have been offloaded to other federal agencies. The report said many elementary and secondary education programs were moved to the Department of Labor, family-engagement efforts were shifted to the Department of Health and Human Services, and in March the department announced a new partnership with the Treasury Department covering federal student aid operations. (edworkforce.house.gov) The Treasury and Education departments said in that April partnership announcement that the arrangement would cover administration of federal student aid programs and the return of defaulted borrowers to repayment. The announcement did not say Treasury had absorbed the entire Education Department, but it did formalize one of the biggest transfers tied to the administration’s restructuring effort. (opb.org) ### What are lawmakers and outside observers saying the cuts affect? Democratic lawmakers used the hearing to press McMahon on civil rights enforcement, student loan policy and oversight for students with disabilities. NPR reported that the shrinking agency has reduced federal coordinating capacity, while Republicans on the panel largely backed the downsizing and said states and local communities should have more control. (ed.gov) Federal News Network reported after the March 2025 layoffs that some units were dissolved and that cuts hit attorneys, auditors, information-technology staff and research analysts. That report said the Office for Civil Rights lost nearly half its staff in the reduction in force, citing reporting from the Associated Press and internal records reviewed by the outlet. (opb.org) ### What happens next in Washington? March 26, 2026, brought another concrete step in the downsizing when the department said it would leave its Lyndon B. Johnson headquarters and relocate to 500 D Street SW. The department said the move, scheduled for August 2026, would save about $4.8 million a year in operating costs. (federalnewsnetwork.com) The House committee said the May 14 session was held to examine the department’s policies and priorities, and McMahon’s testimony was part of the administration’s defense of its fiscal 2027 budget. The next public markers are likely to be budget action in Congress and the August office move that the department has already scheduled. (edworkforce.house.gov) (ed.gov)