
The Department of Education announced that it was laying off half of its workforce on Tuesday, a move that Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called "the first step" toward completely dismantling the department.
A press release from the DOE said that nearly 2,000 employees of the department would be placed on administrative leave on March 21. The mass layoffs will leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 at the beginning of President Donald Trump's term.