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

Department offices ordered closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send prepare for large-scale 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government companies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “last objective,” it said in a news release, pointing to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and offers federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in the department’s dismantling, 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, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency bought offices in the Washington location closed to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly respond to questions about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus unethical loan providers.

The layoffs are the most current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, in spite of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated numerous White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have challenged angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first significant public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.

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

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees said it would combat the “draconian cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the thousands of workers who have actually 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 wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only publicly recorded a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their tasks. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration and the of Health and Human Services, including its Fda.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, personnels specialists at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired countless 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 federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used bonus offers of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It likewise needs workers who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, 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 staff members, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration 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 previous offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark outside of normal U.S. business 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)