The Department of Education is laying off about 50% of its workforce, the first move in a strategy to eventually shutter the agency. 

Trump can't kill it on its own--he needs Congress to enact legislation since Congress has authorized the Department, and even the most imperial president can't override statutes. 

He can't even amend the Constitution by Tweets, despite what Joe Biden and the American Bar Association claimed back in January. 

The first of the layoffs are being announced as I am writing, and the federal bureaucrats who are subject to the reduction in force will begin telework until they are put on paid administrative leave, and eventually let go. 

BREAKING: The Education Department is about to initiate layoffs of about 50% of its workforce of 4,400 employees beginning Tuesday evening.

President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating the entire agency and returning education to the states.

Onward!https://t.co/cbcMzoTOjC

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 11, 2025

CNN — 

The US Education Department announced Tuesday that it is cutting nearly 50% of its workforce, as President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating the agency altogether.

Hundreds will be laid off starting Tuesday evening, in addition to those who took voluntary “buyouts.” Those actions will cut the department’s workforce of about 4,100 at the start of the Trump administration in half.

“Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the Department.

McMahon said later Tuesday that the reductions are the first course of action in shutting down the agency, which Trump has vowed to do, although she acknowledged that fully eliminating the department would require Congress to act. CNN reported last week that White House officials have prepared an executive order directing McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the department.

While the news is in itself interesting, the CNN story focused on the expected whinging of the Public Employees' Unions, which are to be expected. What I did not expect was what appeared to be--I emphasize appeared because it seems bizarrely out of character--was the CATO Institute injecting a note of caution about cutting government, especially the Department of Education. 

I mean, c'mon, this is the CATO Institute. 

Unions representing Department of Education workers and teachers quickly responded to the cuts on Tuesday, expressing concern for the workforce and the impacts on tens of millions of students served by the agency.

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of workers who have dedicated their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” Sheria Smith, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, said in a statement. “It is also clear that there is a rampant disinformation campaign to mislead Americans about the actual services, resources, grants, and programs that the U.S. Department of Education provides to all Americans.”

Another major teachers’ union slammed Trump and Elon Musk for their reshaping of the federal government that led to Tuesday’s cuts. “The real victims will be our most vulnerable students,” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said in a statement.

Such sweeping reduction “is a reason to be concerned,” one expert previously told CNN.

“If [Trump] says, ‘We’re going to have a 50% reduction in staff,’ there is reason to be concerned about how the system will work: Is that enough people?” said Neal McCluskey, director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute. “We’re going to learn whether or not they can do the job with fewer of them.”

"“If [Trump] says, ‘We’re going to have a 50% reduction in staff,’ there is reason to be concerned about how the system will work: Is that enough people?" 

Did you ever expect CATO to express concern about whether the government had enough bureaucrats? I didn't. And I have to say that if this pullquote--and it is entirely possible that CNN took his words out of context--is an honest reflection of CATO's position on reductions in the Department of Education, I will have to get off every CATO mailing list, and take away their honorary chainsaw. 

Bad CATO, bad. Are you Javier Milei libertarians or poseurs?

At the CATO website Neal McCluskey seems more enthusiastic about eliminating the Department of Education, laying out the fiscal benefits of doing so, which would be substantial. 

Did CNN misconstrue McCluskey's full comments to them? I would hope so. As MAGA folks and libertarians celebrate Milei and his chainsaw, cheer on Elon Musk and DOGE, it would be seriously disappointing to find out that the CATO Institute is getting cold feet about budget cuts. 

Or worse, that they are just part of the swamp. 

Inquiring minds want to know!

UPDATE: CATO responds. You decide whether it squares the circle. Personally I am underwhelmed by the explanation, but YMMV. If, as McCluskey says, "US ED might well have far too many employees. Cuts are how we'll find out.," that also implies that in his view the Dept of Education might NOT have too many employees. 

That, my friend, is highly implausible to say the least. It obviously does. Look at what it does. 

If anyone says I want to keep the Dept. of Ed. they're either ignorant or misrepresenting me.

But if we keep US ED & its jobs it will need some # of employees to do them. It's not unreasonable, if you have a fed loan, to be concerned about big cuts. What I also told CNN is no…

— Neal McCluskey (@NealMcCluskey) March 12, 2025

If anyone says I want to keep the Dept. of Ed. they're either ignorant or misrepresenting me.But if we keep US ED & its jobs it will need some # of employees to do them. It's not unreasonable, if you have a fed loan, to be concerned about big cuts. What I also told CNN is no one should panic. US ED might well have far too many employees. Cuts are how we'll find out.