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

Department workplaces ordered shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit plans for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-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 almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government firms scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s «final mission,» it said in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights 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 said «yes,» including that doing so «was the president’s required.» The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm purchased offices in the Washington area near staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to concerns about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and contracts, despite lots of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has irritated a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually faced mad constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first noteworthy public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next phase of project. Several firms have used workers payments to retire early to satisfy 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 workers said it would battle the «heavy-handed cuts.»

«What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the thousands of employees who have 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 argued that the government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE claims it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly recorded a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been pestered by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The large 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 incorrect payments figure was down greatly from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to employees who concur 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 Fda.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, personnels specialists at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad claims after it fired countless probationary employees 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 property portfolio, is also 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 might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided rewards of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also needs employees who have actually accepted the deal to repay the money if they take another government job within five years.

Only a couple of companies have actually telegraphed the number of staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd phase 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 planning to cut 1,029 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 workers 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 bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for remark outside of typical U.S. service hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)