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

Department workplaces ordered shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds 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 altogether, as federal government firms scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “last mission,” it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy 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 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the firm ordered workplaces in the Washington area near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to concerns about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus unscrupulous lending institutions.

The layoffs are the most recent action 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 cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless and contracts, in spite of lots of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

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

All U.S. federal government firms have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans 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 meet Trump’s need.

Affected Education Department workers will be put on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would battle the “oppressive cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, chaos, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless workers 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 argued that the federal government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just openly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by errors.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who accept 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, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday due date, human resources experts at a number of federal agencies 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 essentially dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also needs employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed the number of employees 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 preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous deal by adding 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for 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)