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

Department workplaces bought closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send plans for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last mission,” it stated in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in 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 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company ordered offices in the Washington location near staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus unscrupulous loan providers.

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

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has annoyed a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually challenged angry constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first noteworthy public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have actually been ordered to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have actually provided employees payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers stated it would fight the “heavy-handed cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of workers who have 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 inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The huge bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies 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 Fda.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels experts at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad claims after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already used perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance specialists said the appeal of the is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It likewise requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed how numerous workers 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

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

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