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

Department offices bought shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send strategies for large-scale layoffs

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

The terminations belong to the department’s “last objective,” it said in a news release, pointing to Trump’s vow to get rid of 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 shootings would lead to the department’s taking apart, 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 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company purchased workplaces in the Washington area closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to concerns about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent 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 actually cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, despite lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually irritated a number of White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have confronted angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public move to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have used workers payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s demand.

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

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless employees who have actually dedicated their careers 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 saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually provided lump-sum payments of approximately $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, its Fda.

The buyout provides, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to assist meet the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually 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 home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment beyond U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered bonuses 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 requires employees who have accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed the number of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These include 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 personnel.

OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by including two months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment beyond regular U.S. business 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)