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

Department workplaces purchased shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send plans 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government firms scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last mission,” it stated in a press release, pointing to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and provides federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would result in the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “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 office in January.

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

Similar closures functioned 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 protects Americans against dishonest loan providers.

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

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has actually annoyed a number of White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have confronted angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first notable public relocation to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have offered staff members to retire early to fulfill 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 workers stated it would combat the “oppressive cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the countless workers who have actually dedicated their professions 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 federal government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just publicly recorded a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout offers, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday due date, human resources specialists at several federal companies told Reuters.

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

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

Human resources and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires employees who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed how many employees they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, 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 offered until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 staff members revealing 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 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the e-mail 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)