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

Department workplaces bought closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government companies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to submit strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “last objective,” it stated in a news release, alluding to Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and provides federal financing for clingy districts.

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

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm bought offices in the Washington location near staff 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 issues triggering the closures.

Similar closures functioned 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 protects Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent step 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 actually cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, 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 approach has actually frustrated several White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have faced upset constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have offered employees payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless employees who have actually devoted their careers 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 federal government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only publicly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other have actually provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers 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 Fda.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at numerous federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s home portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided benefits 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 susceptible to legal obstacles. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.

Only a number of firms have actually telegraphed the number of staff members they plan 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 preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided till March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an e-mail to all 19,000 employees revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior deal by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for remark outside of normal U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)