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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 using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government companies scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “final mission,” it said in a news release, alluding to Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm bought workplaces in the Washington area near to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly respond to concerns about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned 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 dishonest lending institutions.

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

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated several White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have challenged angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have actually been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have actually used staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s demand.

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 combat the “severe cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of workers who have actually dedicated 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 federal government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just publicly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The overall improper payments figure was down sharply from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to 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 Fda.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at numerous federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also needs workers who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

Only a number of firms have telegraphed the number of workers they plan to cut in the second phase 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 actually offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, 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 email to all 19,000 employees 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 including two months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed remark outside of normal U.S. service 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)