The US Department of Education is planning to cut about half of its workforce, as the Trump Administration works to slash the size of the federal government.
The department said it was cutting 1,950 staff positions in total, including 1,315 federal workers through a reduction-in-force process announced Tuesday evening.
Senior department officials said nearly 600 employees had accepted deferred resignation offers or voluntary buyouts and an additional 63 probationary workers had been let go.
The mass layoffs will impact nearly 2,100 people who are set to be placed on leave from 21 March.
Trump has long sought to eliminate the department, a long-cherished goal of some conservatives, but such an action would require approval by Congress.
The department, which has an annual budget of around $238bn (£188bn), employs more than 4,000 people.
Established in 1979, the department oversees funding for public schools, administers student loans and runs programs that help low-income students.
“As part of the Department of Education’s final mission, the department today initiated a reduction in force impacting nearly 50% of the department’s workforce,” a statement from Education Secretary Linda McMahon said.
She said the cuts would impact all divisions in the department and were made to “better serve students, parents, educators, and taxpayers”.
The agency had 4,133 employees when Trump was sworn into office, an announcement from the department states. It has the smallest staff of all the 15 US cabinet-level agencies.
After the cuts, 2,183 people would remain, which included several hundred who retired or accepted a buyout programme earlier this year, the accountment said.
The notice to employees said that all of those who are laid off would continue to receive their normal pay and benefits until 9 June, as well as a severance package or retirement pay based on how long they’d worked at the department.
