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

Department offices purchased shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit strategies for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-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 almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government firms rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to submit plans for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s « last objective, » it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal financing for clingy districts.

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

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington location near personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to questions about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful lending institutions.

The layoffs are the latest action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person 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 countless programs and contracts, regardless of dozens of claims 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 actually faced angry constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first notable public move to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms 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 agencies have provided workers payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would fight the « extreme cuts. »

« What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of workers who have committed their professions 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 inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just openly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.

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 huge bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have provided lump-sum payments of as much as $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 offers, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, professionals at several federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is also looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed remark beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used bonus offers of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It likewise requires employees who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed the number of 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 personnel.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda 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 previous offer by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark beyond regular U.S. business 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)