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

Department workplaces purchased shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

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

(Adds 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last objective,” it stated in a press release, pointing to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “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 office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm ordered workplaces in the Washington area near staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away react to concerns about the nature of the security issues 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 agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against unscrupulous loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, regardless of dozens of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually annoyed numerous White House officials and Republican legislators, a few of whom have confronted angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first significant public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of employees who have actually dedicated their professions to serve their fellow Americans,” stated 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 declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued 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 huge bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually provided lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept leave their jobs. 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 embraced as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided benefits of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It also requires workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a number of companies have telegraphed how lots of employees 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration 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 have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by including two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could 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)