The Department of Education terminated 129 contracts worth a total of $1.3 billion and fired 1,227 employees as part of the “workforce optimization” cuts that the Trump administration called for in 2025, a government watchdog report released Thursday states.
The report — which covers January 20, 2025 through March 31, 2025 — found that the cuts led to staffing changes in 16 of the Department’s 17 offices. At least 1,579 of its 3,902 employees, or 40 percent, were terminated or voluntarily separated through other available options, the report found.
The staffing changes resulted in the elimination of several “suboffices” at 15 of 17 offices within the Department, “including some that appear to have been performing statutory functions or oversight and monitoring functions,” the report states.
Among the 129 terminated contracts, the highest value contracts were related to various educational studies, “some of which appear to have been statutorily required,” the report states.
The Department also “descoped” an additional 27 contracts and awarded 77 new contracts with a total value of $610.4 million. It also reinstated three contracts for a total of $100.2 million that it had previously terminated.
The Department also terminated 90 grants for a total of $504 million and identified 223 additional grants totaling $252 million for termination. It also closed out 84 grants worth a total of $316 million and awarded 15 new grants totaling $22 million, the report states.
“The grant programs most impacted by the terminations include those related to teacher training and mental health services,” the report states.
The report reveals that the Department under Secretary of Education LInda McMahon was not fully cooperative with the review, which was called for by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, to assess the effects of the Trump administration’s cuts to the Department.
“The Department did not provide all requested information, or permit unfettered access to Department staff, which limited our ability to fully address our review objective, including making definitive determinations in several areas,” the report states.
It also states the Department argued that it was limited in the information that it could release due to court orders in pending court cases, but failed to explain how granting access to requested documents and to staff would violate those orders. It also states the Department has provided “ no corroborating evidence” to support its claim that it is still carrying out certain legally required responsibilities identified in the report since the cuts took place.
