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

Department offices purchased shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs

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

The terminations are part of the department’s “last mission,” it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would result in 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 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the agency bought offices in the Washington location near personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures 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 richest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid 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 annoyed several White House officials and Republican legislators, a few of whom have challenged mad constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have offered workers payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the countless employees who have devoted their professions to serve their fellow Americans,” stated 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 puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only publicly recorded a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The large 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 dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually offered 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, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at a number of federal firms told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered benefits of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It also needs employees who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed how numerous employees they prepare to cut in the 2nd 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 preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 employees announcing a Friday, March 14, due date 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 benefit, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment outside of typical U.S. 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)