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

Department workplaces ordered closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-new 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government firms scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s « last objective, » it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil laws in schools and offers federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said « yes, » adding that doing so « was the president’s mandate. » The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency purchased offices in the Washington location closed to personnel 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 problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted 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 protects Americans against unethical 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 actually cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and contracts, in spite of dozens of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated several White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have confronted mad constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first significant public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have actually used workers payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department workers will be positioned on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would fight the « exorbitant cuts. »

« What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect 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 inefficient and puffed up. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just publicly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The total incorrect payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually provided lump-sum payments of up to $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 Department of Health and Human Services, including its Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources experts at a number of federal companies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer 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 could not be reached for remark outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided perks of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It also needs workers who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed how many staff members they plan 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 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 staff members, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were given up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 workers revealing 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 deal by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for remark beyond normal 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)