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

Department workplaces bought closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to send plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

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

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would result in the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the firm purchased offices in the Washington location near to personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to concerns about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against deceitful lending institutions.

The layoffs are the latest action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, in spite of lots of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually irritated numerous White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have challenged angry constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first notable public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees said it would battle the “severe cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the countless employees who have committed their professions to serve their fellow Americans,” said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the federal government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just publicly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The overall incorrect 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 concur 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 uses, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, personnels experts at a number of federal companies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer 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 could not be reached for remark outside of U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided perks 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 vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires workers who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed how many staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually used 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 react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members announcing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous deal by including two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for remark outside of typical U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)