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

Department offices bought closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-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 completely, as government firms rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to send strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “final objective,” it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s required.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington area closed to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted 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 unscrupulous lenders.

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

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has actually annoyed several White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually faced angry constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first noteworthy public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have offered staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers stated it would battle the “drastic cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the countless employees who have devoted their professions 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 claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only publicly recorded a of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by mistakes.

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 vast bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who concur to leave their jobs. 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 welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resources specialists at several federal agencies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered benefits of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the second phase 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 provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered till March 12 to respond.

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 offer by adding 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of regular U.S. organization 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)