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

Department workplaces bought shut down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

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

(Adds brand-new government report on improper 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 federal government firms scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to send plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

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

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in the department’s taking apart, 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 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington area near personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to concerns about the nature of the security problems 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 company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against deceitful loan providers.

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 cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite lots of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually irritated several White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have faced upset constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have actually been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have provided workers payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s need.

Affected Education Department staff members will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would combat the “draconian cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of workers who have committed their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” said 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 conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually only publicly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by mistakes.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually provided of up to $25,000 before tax to employees 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday due date, human resources professionals at numerous federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and essentially took apart whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s home portfolio, is also seeking approval to provide 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 remark beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided bonus offers of approximately $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 difficulties. It likewise needs workers who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed how many workers they plan to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These include 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 offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members 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 prior 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 might not be grabbed comment beyond normal 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)