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 federal government report on incorrect 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 almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government companies scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s due date to send strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “final mission,” it said in a news release, alluding to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and provides federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would result in the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s required.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington location near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away react to concerns about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus unethical lenders.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, regardless of lots of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has annoyed a number of White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have confronted upset constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first significant public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

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

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the countless workers who have committed their professions to serve their fellow Americans,” stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only openly documented a portion 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 yearly report launched on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The total improper payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who consent to leave their jobs. 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 offers, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to help meet the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at several federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another federal government job within five years.

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

OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all 19,000 workers 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 previous deal by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark outside of regular U.S. company hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)