US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its

Department workplaces bought closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal government report on improper payments, paragraphs 12-14)

By Timothy Gardner, Tim Reid, Alexandra Alper and Marisa Taylor

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Education said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “last objective,” it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and offers federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the company ordered offices in the Washington location near staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to concerns about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unscrupulous lenders.

The layoffs are the most current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, regardless of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has irritated a number of White House officials and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually challenged mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have been purchased to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have actually offered staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department workers will be placed on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees said it would fight the “heavy-handed cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless employees who have dedicated their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually only openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The total inappropriate payments figure was down sharply from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their tasks. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday deadline, human resources specialists at numerous federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for remark outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also needs employees who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed how lots of they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all 19,000 workers revealing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of typical U.S. service hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)