Three Charts Showing Who Secretary McMahon Cut at the Department of Education
James Murphy
March 12, 2025
On March 11, 2025, the Department of Education (ED) announced that it had “initiated a reduction in force impacting nearly 50% of the Department’s workforce.” Put more plainly, the Secretary of Education notified 1,315 of her employees that they “will be placed on administrative leave” next week, which will likely lead to their termination, on top of the nearly 600 employees who resigned in the past two months.
Those public servants are experiencing the most immediate impact and harm from this action, but the effects of this drastic reduction in the size of the department will be felt by students, families, and educators across the country. Thanks to a now-former ED employee who shared a list of union employees who were notified yesterday, we have a fairly clear picture of the Trump administration’s target. You can see the list of positions that were eliminated here (n.b., errors on the list are possible. At least one person on it has identified themself as having not been notified. We will monitor this carefully.)
