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

Department workplaces bought shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-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 entirely, as federal government firms rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send plans for a 2nd 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 get rid of the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil laws in schools and offers federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause 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 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency bought workplaces in the Washington area near to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security concerns triggering 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 against dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the 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 throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, despite lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has irritated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually faced upset constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his very first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have actually been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have actually used workers payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

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

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless workers who have actually dedicated 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 puffed up. DOGE claims it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only publicly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched 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 total improper payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually offered lump-sum payments of as much as $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 offers, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday deadline, personnels specialists at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to offer 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 could not be grabbed remark outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered bonuses of as much as $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 likewise needs employees who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed the number of 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 employees revealing 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 offer by including 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 remark beyond normal 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)