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

Department offices purchased closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies rushed to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline 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, 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 provides federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause 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 firm bought offices in the Washington area closed to 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 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 company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s richest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, despite lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has actually irritated numerous White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually faced mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first significant public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.

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

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of workers who have dedicated 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 wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $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 stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who concur 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, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at a number of federal companies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to offer 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 comment outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered rewards 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 susceptible to legal difficulties. It likewise requires employees who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed the number of workers they plan to cut in the second 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 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 prior deal by including two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed 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)