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

Department offices ordered shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-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 agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send prepare for a second 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 oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would result in 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 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency bought workplaces in the Washington location near personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to questions about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unscrupulous lending institutions.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, despite lots of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated several White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few 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 first noteworthy public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have been ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have offered employees payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers stated it would fight the «heavy-handed cuts.»

«What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of workers who have actually committed 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 federal government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE claims 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 actually been pestered by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have used 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday due date, human resources experts at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use 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 remark 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 needs employees who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government task within five years.

Only a couple of firms have telegraphed the number of staff members they plan to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered until March 12 to react.

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, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by including two months of complete pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for remark beyond typical U.S. organization hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)