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

Department offices bought shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new federal government report on incorrect 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 nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government companies rushed to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s « final mission, » it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and provides federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department’s dismantling, 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 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the firm ordered workplaces in the Washington area closed to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent 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 actually cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, in spite of dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has irritated a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually challenged angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first significant public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have offered employees payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees said it would combat the « extreme cuts. »

« What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the countless employees who have actually dedicated their professions to serve their fellow Americans, » said 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 declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only publicly documented 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 yearly report released on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments 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 stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who concur to leave their tasks. 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 offers, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources specialists at numerous federal agencies told .

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very 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 also seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an email 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 perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also requires employees who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash 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 phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous offer by including 2 months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed remark outside of typical U.S. organization hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)