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

Department workplaces ordered shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send strategies for massive layoffs

(Adds 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 personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “final mission,” it said in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” adding 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 notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security concerns 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 firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s richest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, despite dozens of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has frustrated a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually challenged mad constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have provided workers payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.

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

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the thousands of employees who have committed 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 government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only publicly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who concur 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 uses, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to use 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 grabbed remark beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided benefits 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 requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a number of companies have telegraphed the number of employees they plan to cut in the 2nd 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 planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to react.

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

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous deal by including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment beyond normal U.S. company 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)