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

Department offices purchased closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds new 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 nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government firms rushed to meet President Donald Trump’s due date to send strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s « last objective, » it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy 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 required. » The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency bought offices in the Washington location near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security concerns 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 company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus unscrupulous loan providers.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s wealthiest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, regardless of dozens of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually irritated numerous White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have confronted angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first significant public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. 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 campaign. Several agencies have actually provided workers payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would combat the « heavy-handed cuts. »

« What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the countless employees who have devoted their professions 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 federal government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just publicly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually 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 launched on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees 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 Fda.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, personnels professionals at several federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very 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 offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment beyond U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already used bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed the number of staff members they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 staff members 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 offer by adding 2 months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment outside of typical U.S. company 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)