The Trump administration’s decision to cut nearly half the U.S. Department of Education workforce is a careless action that will wreak havoc in public schools and erode religious freedom, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty said.
“This action is not about improving education — it is about asserting more authority than the president has,” BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler said in response to the March 11 announcement that close to 2,000 positions at the agency will be eliminated before the end of the month.
Amanda Tyler
“Gutting the Department of Education creates continued chaos and confusion, particularly for the most vulnerable students,” Tyler continued. “This reckless move directly threatens religious liberty by eliminating staff engaged in essential oversight that ensures students can freely practice — or choose not to practice — religion without government coercion. Without these protections, public schools will be vulnerable to state-sponsored religious mandates and discrimination.”
The move also threatens democracy, she said. “President Trump does not have the authority to eliminate the department; that requires Congress. But the president is claiming more power than he has, sowing chaos and testing the limits of our government’s checks and balances.”
“The president is claiming more power than he has, sowing chaos and testing the limits of our government’s checks and balances.”
News of the cuts came on the heels of recent reports Trump was close to signing an executive order to abolish the agency outright. And while he has yet to do so, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon referred to the reduction in force as “part of the Department of Education’s final mission.”
She also provided specifics. The agency’s workforce will drop from its Jan. 20 level of 4,133 to 2,183 when administrative leaves go into effect March 21. About 600 workers already have left after accepting voluntary resignation packages as part of Elon Musk’s DOGE.
Each of the agency’s divisions are affected by the cuts, including some requiring “significant reorganization to better serve students, parents, educators and taxpayers,” she said. “The Department of Education will continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”
Making these cuts is “a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system,” McMahon asserted.
That echoes the view of Trump and the architects of Project 2025, the right-wing evangelical plan for reshaping the federal government along Christian nationalist lines. Its many proposals include ending the Department of Education and diverting taxpayer funds to private education, including religious schools.
Advocates for public education and religious liberty say the move will do anything but “restore greatness” to the country’s school systems and their communities.
“Millions of students across the country will only be harmed, not helped, by firing seasoned civil servants who work tirelessly to ensure they are able to access a quality education,” Tyler said. “Systematically shutting down the department strips students of federal protections, denies them essential services, and leaves states and districts to fend for themselves.”
The department’s decline also threatens the rights of parents to decide how their children are educated about faith, she added.
“It is a blatant move to privatize education, redirecting public funds toward private sectarian schools at the expense of public institutions that serve all children.”
“Public education and religious liberty go hand in hand. Public schools are the only education system where students’ rights to religious freedom are guaranteed to be fully protected. Weakening federal oversight eliminates protections for religious freedom for all students, students with disabilities, and low-income families. It is a blatant move to privatize education, redirecting public funds toward private sectarian schools at the expense of public institutions that serve all children.”
The National Federation of Teachers slammed the workforce reduction as a “cowardly way of dismantling” the agency.
“The massive reduction in force at the Education Department is an attack on opportunity that will gut the agency and its ability to support students, throwing federal education programs into chaos across the country, AFT President Randi Weingarten said.
Some 10 million Americans who depend on financial aid for college or technical school will be left “in limbo” while school districts and states will have to navigate funding setbacks without federal guidance, she warned. “This move will directly impact the 90% of students who attend public schools, by denying them the resources they need to thrive. That’s why Americans squarely oppose eliminating the Education Department.”
The cutbacks also will create chaos among local schools and colleges, said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association.
“The real victims will be our most vulnerable students,” she said. “Gutting the Department of Education will send class sizes soaring, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections.”
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