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

Department offices bought shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds 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 almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government companies to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s « last mission, » it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said « yes, » including that doing so « was the president’s required. » The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington location near staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful lenders.

The layoffs are the current 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 bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and contracts, regardless of dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually confronted upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week 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 agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have used staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s need.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees said it would battle the « draconian cuts. »

« What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless workers who have actually committed their professions to serve their fellow Americans, » said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually only publicly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers 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 uses, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources specialists at numerous federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad suits 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 federal government’s property portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires workers who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.

Only a number of companies have telegraphed the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending 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 actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were given up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an e-mail to all 19,000 workers revealing 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 prior deal by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment beyond normal U.S. service 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)