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

Department offices bought shut down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to send plans for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last objective,” it said 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 supplies federal funding for needy districts.

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

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

Similar closures served 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 safeguards Americans against deceitful lenders.

The layoffs are the current step 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 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, regardless of lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

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

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

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the countless workers who have committed 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 government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly recorded a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal 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 outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually provided lump-sum payments of approximately $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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels specialists at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been facing myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently used bonuses 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 challenges. It likewise requires employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the second phase 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 staff.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with understanding 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 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 2 months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark outside of typical U.S. service hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)