Department officials announced the cuts Tuesday, raising questions about the agency’s ability to continue usual operations.
The Trump administration had already been whittling the agency’s staff, though buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees. After Tuesday’s layoffs, the Education Department’s staff will sit at roughly half of its previous 4,100, the agency said.
The department is also terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, officials said.
Department officials said it would continue to deliver on its key functions such as the distribution of federal aid to schools, student loan management and oversight of Pell Grants.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said when she got to the department, she wanted to reduce bloat to be able to send more money to local education authorities.
“So many of the programs are really excellent, so we need to make sure the money goes to the states," McMahon said in an interview Tuesday on Fox News.
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.”
