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

Department offices purchased closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds new 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 nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government agencies scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “final objective,” it stated in a news release, alluding to to get rid of the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

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

Before revealing the layoffs, the company bought workplaces in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to concerns about the nature of the security issues triggering the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus unscrupulous lending institutions.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has 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, despite dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have challenged angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first noteworthy public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

Affected Education Department workers 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 “severe cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless employees who have actually devoted 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 federal government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only openly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees 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 Fda.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels specialists at several federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad claims 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 home portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed how many workers they plan 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 planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members revealing 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 previous deal by adding two months of full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for remark beyond normal U.S. company hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)