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

Department workplaces purchased shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit plans for massive layoffs

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

The terminations belong to the department’s “final objective,” it stated in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and offers federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in 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 office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency ordered workplaces in the Washington area near to personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security issues triggering the closures.

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

The layoffs are the current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world’s richest 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 administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, regardless of lots of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually annoyed several White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have confronted mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his very first notable public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have used workers payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department staff members will be placed on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department said.

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the countless workers who have devoted their professions 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 inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just publicly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who concur 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 provides, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources experts at numerous federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with after it fired countless probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use 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 might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise needs workers who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government task within five years.

Only a number of agencies have telegraphed how lots of workers 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 planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has used 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 respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all 19,000 employees revealing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous offer by including two months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed remark beyond regular 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)