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

Department workplaces purchased shut down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit strategies for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal 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 personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

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

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would result in the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” including 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 workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm bought offices in the Washington location near personnel from Tuesday evening 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 worked 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 safeguards Americans versus unscrupulous lenders.

The layoffs are the most recent step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the 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 thousands of programs and agreements, regardless of dozens of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated several White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have challenged mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public relocation to limit the .

All U.S. federal government companies have been ordered to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have offered staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.

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

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless employees 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 actually argued that the government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just openly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that , 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 firms have used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday due date, personnels experts 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 dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for remark outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided benefits of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It also needs employees who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within five years.

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

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior deal by adding 2 months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark outside of regular U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)