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

Department workplaces bought closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send plans for massive layoffs

(Adds 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “final mission,” it said in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which manages $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 firings would lead to the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency bought offices in the area near to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly react to questions about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.

Similar closures worked 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 safeguards Americans versus unscrupulous lending institutions.

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

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

All U.S. government companies have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have actually provided staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department staff members will be put on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department stated.

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the thousands of employees who have devoted their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been plagued 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 large majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually provided lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to leave their tasks. 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 alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at numerous federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for remark beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided bonuses of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another federal government job within five years.

Only a number of companies have telegraphed how many staff members they plan to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming 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 provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 employees revealing 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 adding two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment beyond normal 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)