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

Department workplaces bought closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit plans for massive layoffs

(Adds new federal government report on incorrect 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last mission,” it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and provides federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s required.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency purchased workplaces in the Washington location near personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the .

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

The layoffs are the most current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world’s wealthiest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, in spite of dozens of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated numerous White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually challenged mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first significant public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have actually used staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s demand.

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the countless employees who have 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 actually argued that the federal government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE claims it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just publicly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who consent 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 provides, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, personnels specialists at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s property portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for remark beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided bonus offers of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a number of companies have telegraphed how numerous workers they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending 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 provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email 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 previous deal by adding 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 remark beyond typical U.S. organization hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)