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

Department offices purchased shut down till Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last mission,” it stated in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency purchased offices in the Washington location near to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away respond to questions about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unethical lending institutions.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world’s wealthiest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, despite dozens of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has irritated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have challenged upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several firms have actually offered workers payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department staff members will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers stated it would combat the “oppressive cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the thousands of workers who have devoted their professions to serve their fellow Americans,” said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the federal government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just openly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The overall incorrect payments figure was down greatly from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually provided lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to 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, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resources experts at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government job within five years.

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed the number of employees they prepare to cut in the second phase 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 to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, 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 Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by including two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark 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)