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

Department workplaces bought closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government companies scrambled to satisfy 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 objective,” it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would result in 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 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

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

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Bureau, which secures Americans against unscrupulous lending institutions.

The layoffs are the most current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person 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 countless programs and agreements, in spite of lots of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has frustrated a number of White House officials and Republican legislators, a few of whom have confronted angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first noteworthy public move to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been purchased to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have actually provided workers payments to retire early to fulfill 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 workers said it would fight the “drastic cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless employees who have actually devoted their professions 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 government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just openly recorded a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The huge bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually offered 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 uses, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist meet the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is also looking for approval to provide 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 outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently used bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources 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 workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed the number of workers they prepare 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 preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

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 offered up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members revealing 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 including two months of complete pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment beyond typical U.S. company 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)