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

Department workplaces purchased closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit strategies for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-new government report on improper 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government firms scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “final mission,” it stated in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal funding 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,” including that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly react to questions about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against dishonest lending institutions.

The layoffs are the newest action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, despite dozens of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has irritated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually faced mad constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have actually provided 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 stated.

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless workers who have 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 argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just openly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have provided lump-sum payments of up to $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 of Health and Human Services, including its Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at several federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially took apart whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer 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 could not be grabbed remark outside of U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently offered bonus offers of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It also needs employees who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

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

OPM itself has actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email 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 previous deal by adding 2 months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment outside of 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)