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

Department offices purchased closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send strategies for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal government report on incorrect 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 altogether, as government firms scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to submit plans for a 2nd 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 eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and offers federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s taking apart, 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 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the firm ordered offices 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 instantly react to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unscrupulous lenders.

The layoffs are the latest action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, regardless of dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated a number of White House officials and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually faced angry constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies 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 said.

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of employees who have actually committed their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The overall incorrect payments figure was down greatly 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 workers who accept 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 provides, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resources at numerous federal agencies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for remark outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently used benefits of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also needs employees who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed how lots of employees they prepare 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 provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were given up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail 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 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 comment beyond regular U.S. organization 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)