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

Department workplaces bought shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit strategies for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new 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 personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government agencies rushed to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to send strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s « last mission, » it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s taking apart, 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, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency purchased workplaces in the Washington location near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to concerns about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures worked 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 versus dishonest lenders.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize 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 bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, regardless of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has actually irritated a number of White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have confronted angry constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his first notable public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have offered workers payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s need.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would fight the « severe cuts. »

« What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the thousands of workers who have committed their careers 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 federal government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by mistakes.

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 large majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because financial year, 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 used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who consent 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, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels specialists at several federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed remark beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used benefits of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It likewise requires workers who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed how numerous employees they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, 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 workers, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of regular 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)