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 due date to submit prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal government report on inappropriate 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 government companies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to submit strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s « final objective, » it said in a news release, pointing to Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would result in 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 office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm bought workplaces in the Washington area near personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to questions about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

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

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

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually annoyed a number of White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have confronted upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have actually been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have actually used staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

Affected Education Department workers will be placed on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department stated.

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

« What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, chaos, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless employees who have actually devoted 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 federal government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly recorded a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually 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 released on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who agree to 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 Fda.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources specialists at several federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been facing myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed remark beyond U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used benefits of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It likewise requires employees who have accepted the offer to repay the money if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed how many employees they prepare 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 to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given up until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all 19,000 staff members 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 including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment 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)