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

Department workplaces ordered shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit strategies 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

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

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would cause the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency ordered workplaces in the Washington location near personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus unethical lenders.

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

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated several White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have faced angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been ordered to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have actually provided employees payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of 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 wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only publicly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The total incorrect payments figure was down sharply from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually provided lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who consent to 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources specialists at several federal firms told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already used benefits 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 susceptible to legal challenges. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a number of agencies have telegraphed the number of employees they prepare to cut in the second stage 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 used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all 19,000 workers announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by including 2 months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark 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, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)