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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 plans 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 almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government agencies rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s « last mission, » it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s dismantling, 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, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency purchased offices in the Washington area near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security issues triggering the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against unscrupulous lending institutions.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest individual 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 help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, regardless of lots of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually irritated numerous White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have confronted upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

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 battle the « oppressive cuts. »

« What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the countless workers who have actually devoted their careers to serve their fellow Americans, » stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the government is and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only openly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The huge 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 greatly from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually used lump-sum payments of approximately $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 uses, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resources specialists at numerous federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer 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 grabbed comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently offered perks 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 difficulties. It likewise requires workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed the number of employees they plan to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members 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 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 outside of regular 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)