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

Department offices purchased shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit plans for massive 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 almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government firms scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “last mission,” 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 funding for needy districts.

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

Before announcing the layoffs, the company purchased workplaces in the Washington location near staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures served 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 dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the most current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and contracts, regardless of lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated numerous White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have faced upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first significant public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government companies have actually been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have provided staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.

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 said it would fight the “draconian cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the countless workers who have actually committed their careers 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 actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually provided 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 uses, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday due date, personnels experts at several federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the 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 outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered rewards 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 difficulties. It also requires workers who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.

Only a couple of firms have actually 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 intending to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members announcing 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 offer by adding 2 months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed remark outside of typical 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)