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

bought shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government firms scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “final mission,” it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings 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 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency purchased workplaces in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security concerns 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 firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against deceitful lenders.

The layoffs are the most recent step in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, led by the world’s richest 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 bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, despite dozens of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually annoyed several White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually challenged mad constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first significant public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

Affected Education Department employees will be positioned on administrative leave beginning 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 past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard 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 federal government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who consent 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout offers, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday due date, personnels specialists at a number of federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

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

Personnels and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It likewise needs workers who have accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a number of firms have actually telegraphed the number of workers 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 preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

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

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