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

bought shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-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 altogether, as federal government firms scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “last mission,” it said in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and offers federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would cause the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company purchased offices in the Washington area near to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away respond to questions about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against dishonest lending institutions.

The layoffs are the most recent step in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the 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 administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, despite lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated a number of White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually challenged mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first significant public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several firms have actually provided staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department workers will be put on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department stated.

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would fight the “drastic cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of workers who have actually committed their careers 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 government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.

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 huge bulk were overpayments, the report said. 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 said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who accept 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 offers, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at numerous federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided bonus offers of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

Only a number of agencies have telegraphed how numerous employees they plan to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 staff members 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 full pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment outside of normal U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)