Education Department, greatly reduced by Trump, changing DC headquarters
The Department of Education announced Thursday it would be moving out of its current headquarters in Washington, D.C., which has been 70 percent vacant after half of its workforce was cut as part of President Trump’s efforts to eliminate the agency.
The Education Department will move to another smaller building in the city, with projected savings for taxpayers of $4.8 million annually, it said. The projected time frame for the move is August.
“One year ago, President Trump signed one of the most consequential executive orders of his presidency – to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said.
“Thanks to the hard work of so many, we have made unprecedented progress in reducing the federal education footprint, and now we are pleased to give this building to an agency that will benefit far more from its space than the Department of Education. This is an important step in our efforts to forge brighter futures for our nation’s students, honor the taxpayers who invest in their promise, and support the civil servants who keep this vital work moving forward,” she added.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Building that the Education Department is leaving will be taken over by the Department of Energy, a decision that was made to save $350 million in maintenance cost to the current building the Energy Department occupies.
“Relocating to the LBJ building will deliver significant taxpayer savings and will ensure the Energy Department continues to deliver on its mission,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. “We look forward to working closely with the General Services Administration and the Education Department throughout this process.”
The Education Department has gone from around 4,000 employees at the beginning of the Trump administration to an estimated 2,000 today, including cuts from key offices such as the Office for Civil Rights and the Federal Student Aid office.
It has also made interagency deals with other Cabinet-level departments to take over some of its programs, with the most recent deal announced for the Treasury Department to take over much of the student loan portfolio.
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