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

Department offices bought closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal government report on inappropriate 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

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

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

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency purchased workplaces 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 right away react to questions about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.

Similar closures served 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 safeguards Americans versus unethical loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent step 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 across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, despite lots of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has irritated several White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have faced angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies 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 used employees payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.

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

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this routine 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 argued that the government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only openly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The huge bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of as much as $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 reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels experts at numerous federal firms informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use 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 could not be reached for remark beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the money if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered till March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, its prior offer by including two months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed comment beyond typical U.S. service 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)