By Sunlen Serfaty, Kaanita Iyer, Rene Marsh, Alayna Treene and Kevin Liptak

(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.

Asked on Fox News whether the layoffs were “the first step to a total shutdown,” McMahon said, “Yes, actually it is, because that was the president’s mandate as directed to me clearly is to shut down the Department of Education.” She went on to describe the layoffs as “eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat.”

The roughly 1,300 employees notified of their layoff will be terminated in 90 days, according to senior agency officials. Those fired will begin teleworking starting Wednesday and go on paid administrative leave starting March 21, the officials said, adding that the employees will receive severance pay based on the length of their service.

The cuts are in addition to the 63 probationary employees who were fired as part of a White House directive last month, the officials added. More than 300 employees also took voluntary separation incentives worth up to $25,000 while about 260 accepted a deferred resignation package.

Tuesday’s cuts follow similar layoffs at other federal agencies as part of Trump and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s continued efforts to shrink the size of the federal government.

‘Significant changes to the way that we work’

The senior officials told reporters that the cuts will not impact federal student aid “in any way, shape or form,” as experts raise alarm about whether the agency can carry out its usual duties with such a massive reduction.

The officials added that an earlier memo sent to employees announcing that the agency’s offices will be temporarily closed for unspecified “security reasons” was due to the layoffs. The earlier memo, obtained by CNN, instructed employees to work remotely until Thursday.

The laid off employees will telework beginning Wednesday until March 21 “for safety reasons to protect the 2,183 employees that are going to remain after” the reduction in force is complete, one senior official said.

The officials also announced that several of its offices across the country will be shuttered as part of the changes, including in San Francisco and New York. The agency plans to eventually consolidate into one office in Washington, DC, where it currently has three.

Minutes before employees were required to vacate the building, security guards were seen locking the doors of the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC. Offices are expected to reopen Thursday.

Longtime department staffers told CNN they can’t remember a time that all offices were closed, even when significant VIPs have been on site.

Several Department of Education employees earlier told CNN they were nervous about impending mass layoffs and the looming executive order from Trump.

In an email sent to employees not impacted by the cuts and obtained by CNN, the agency said, “There will need to be significant changes to the way that we work.”

“While your position was not directly affected, I understand that seeing valued colleagues and friends depart is never easy,” the agency’s chief human capital officer said in the email, adding, “What we choose to prioritize, and in turn, not prioritize, will be critical in this transition.”

Unions stress impact of cuts on students

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.”

This story and headline have been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Michael Williams contributed to this report.

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