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

Department workplaces purchased shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit plans 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government agencies rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

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

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

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency purchased offices in the Washington area near to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

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

The layoffs are the newest 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 cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, regardless of dozens of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated a number of White House officials and Republican legislators, a few of whom have faced mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have actually been bought 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 to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

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 employees stated it would battle the “severe cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of workers who have committed their professions to serve their fellow Americans,” said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only publicly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal 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 used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees 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, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday due date, personnels experts at several federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad claims after it fired thousands of 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 residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered benefits of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It likewise needs workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed how numerous staff members they prepare to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending 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 actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 staff members 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 prior deal by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark beyond 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)