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

Department workplaces ordered closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government firms rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

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

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to 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, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm purchased workplaces in the Washington area near to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against unethical lenders.

The layoffs are the latest step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s wealthiest 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 help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, in spite of dozens of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

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

All U.S. federal government agencies have been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have actually used employees 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 said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would combat the « heavy-handed cuts. »

« What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless employees who have actually dedicated 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 bloated. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been plagued by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who consent to leave their tasks. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Fda.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to help meet the Thursday due date, human resources professionals at several federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits 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 manages the government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered bonus offers of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed how lots of staff members they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided up until 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, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous offer by adding 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark outside of normal U.S. business 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)