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

Department offices purchased shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

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

(Adds brand-new 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government agencies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send plans for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s « final objective, » 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 rights laws in schools and supplies federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated « yes, » including that doing so « was the president’s mandate. » 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 personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly respond to questions about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against dishonest lending institutions.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, regardless of dozens of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has irritated a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have faced mad constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first noteworthy public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

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

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

« What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of employees who have actually 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 government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just publicly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually offered lump-sum payments of as much as $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 offers, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels specialists at several federal agencies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s home portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already used benefits of as much as $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 also requires workers who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.

Only a number of firms have actually telegraphed the number of staff members they plan to cut in the second phase 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 preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent 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 2 months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed comment outside of typical U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)