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

Department workplaces ordered closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit plans for large-scale 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 completely, as government companies rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s «last objective,» it said in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and offers federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s dismantling, 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 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company bought workplaces in the Washington area near to staff 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 concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against deceitful lenders.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s richest person 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 administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, regardless of lots of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has frustrated a number of White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have confronted angry constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first noteworthy public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have actually provided staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s need.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees said it would combat the «exorbitant cuts.»

«What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the thousands of employees who have devoted 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 government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate 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 expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have actually used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers who accept 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 offers, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at a number of federal firms told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel 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 actually already used bonus offers of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

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

OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 employees announcing 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 previous deal by adding 2 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 beyond typical U.S. service hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, 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)