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

Department offices ordered closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal 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 nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government firms scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “last mission,” it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would cause the department’s dismantling, 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 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the company ordered workplaces in the Washington area closed to staff from Tuesday evening 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 issues triggering the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the most 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 cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, in spite of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

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

All U.S. government firms have actually been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have actually provided staff members 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 stated.

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would battle the “heavy-handed cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of workers who have actually devoted their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only openly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The total incorrect payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who agree to 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 way to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, personnels professionals at a number of federal companies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s home portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer 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. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered bonus offers of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also requires workers who have accepted the deal to repay the money if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a number of companies 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 intending 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 offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an e-mail to all 19,000 workers 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 prior offer by including two months of full pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment beyond regular U.S. company 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)