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

Department workplaces ordered closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send prepare 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government companies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s « last objective, » it said in a news release, pointing to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and offers 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 stated « 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 revealing the layoffs, the agency bought workplaces in the Washington area near to staff 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 problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful lenders.

The layoffs are the most recent 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 across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite lots of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has actually annoyed a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually confronted mad constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first significant public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several firms have offered employees payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

Affected Education Department employees 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 « severe cuts. »

« What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the thousands of employees who have committed 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 government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just publicly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to 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 offers, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources professionals at numerous federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired countless 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 also seeking approval to offer 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 could not be reached for remark outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered benefits 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 susceptible to legal obstacles. It also requires employees who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed the number of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd phase 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 actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered till 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 two months of full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed remark beyond normal U.S. business 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)