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

Department workplaces bought closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds new federal 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 almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government firms rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s « final mission, » it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal funding for clingy districts.

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

Before announcing the layoffs, the company bought offices in the Washington area closed to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.

Similar closures worked 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 secures Americans against deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent step in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, despite lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has frustrated a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have confronted upset constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have provided staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

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 « heavy-handed cuts. »

« What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the countless workers who have dedicated 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 government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just openly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been pestered 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 vast majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have provided lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who accept 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 provides, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, personnels experts at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and took apart whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently offered bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed the number of employees they plan 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 offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all 19,000 staff members 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 prior offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment beyond 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)