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

Department offices purchased closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government firms scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last objective,” it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s taking apart, 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 workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm purchased workplaces in the Washington location closed 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 concerns about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus deceitful lending institutions.

The layoffs are the newest step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and contracts, despite dozens of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has annoyed a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually faced angry constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first notable public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have actually been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several firms have actually used workers payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

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

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

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

Trump and Musk have argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.

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 huge majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually provided lump-sum payments of approximately $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 uses, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources specialists at numerous federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and has actually currently offered benefits of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a number of agencies have telegraphed how lots of workers they plan to cut in the second 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 provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered until March 12 to react.

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

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous deal by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark beyond regular U.S. organization hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)