WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Education Department inspector general released a 91-page report in May 2025 detailing agency operations from January 20 to March 31, 2025. The report found the department slashed $1.3 billion in contracts and terminated $504 million in grants during this period.

Nearly 1,600 Education Department staffers were laid off or took a buyout between January 20 and March 31, 2025. Approximately 30 percent of these separated employees had between 11 and 21 years of service, and about half of those with 31 to 50 years of service were separated from the department. The report also stated that the Education Department did not provide all requested information during the investigation or permit unfettered access to department staff. Lawyers from the Office of the General Counsel were required to sit in on interviews between the inspector general and Education Department employees.

Of the total contract cancellations, 97 Institute of Education Sciences contracts, amounting to $1.1 billion, were among those canceled, though one of these was later reversed. In contrast, the Institute of Education Sciences awarded 45 new contracts totaling $91.3 million for National Assessment of Educational Progress state coordinators. The Institute of Education Sciences initially had 191 employees before January 20, 2025, a number that decreased to 30 employees by March 31, 2025. The Education Department released recommendations for reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences in March 2025.

Education Department officials stated that other offices continued to carry out statutory responsibilities after the layoffs. However, the inspector general stated that no corroborating evidence was provided to support this assertion since the reduction in force.

Senator Elizabeth Warren commented on the report. "I fought for this report because Americans deserve to know what Donald Trump is doing to gut education in this country," Warren said in a statement.

Erin Dunlop Velez, Vice President of Research, also issued a statement regarding the report's findings. "Leaving an agency tasked with Congressionally mandated, objective statistical analysis with a mere 16 percent of its staff severely threatens our collective ability to understand and improve student outcomes," Velez said. Velez added that "The termination of $1.1 billion in critical education data and research contracts has been a damaging setback for evidence-based policymaking, as weakening our nation's data infrastructure creates informational gaps."