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

Department workplaces ordered shut down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send strategies for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-new 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “final objective,” it stated in a news release, alluding to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $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 firings would result in 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 purchased offices in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the latest step 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 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, regardless of lots of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated numerous White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually faced angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have provided staff members 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 said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers stated it would battle the “exorbitant cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the thousands of employees who have actually 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 wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just openly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who accept 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 provides, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist meet the Thursday deadline, personnels experts at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for remark beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already used bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a number of firms have telegraphed the number of employees they prepare to cut in the second stage 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 staff.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all 19,000 workers announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, its prior deal by including 2 months of full pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment beyond regular U.S. service 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)