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

Department workplaces purchased closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit plans for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal 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 completely, as federal government firms rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “last mission,” it said in a press release, mentioning 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 clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would cause 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 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency bought workplaces in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately respond to concerns about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

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

The layoffs are the latest step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s wealthiest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, regardless of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually confronted angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first noteworthy public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have actually offered staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s need.

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 employees stated it would battle the “extreme cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the countless employees who have devoted their professions to serve their fellow Americans,” stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered 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 launched on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually offered 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 uses, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resources experts at several federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s property portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently offered bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It also needs workers who have accepted the offer to repay the money 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 2nd stage 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 personnel.

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

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

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous deal by adding 2 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 remark beyond normal 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)