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

Department workplaces purchased closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit plans 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 nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government firms scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

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

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said «yes,» adding that doing so «was the president’s required.» The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

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

Similar closures served 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 safeguards Americans against unscrupulous loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the 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 bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite dozens of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has frustrated a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually confronted angry constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government companies have been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have actually offered staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department staff members will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department stated.

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

«What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of employees who have dedicated their professions to serve their fellow Americans,» stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just openly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who concur to leave their jobs. 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 offers, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at several federal companies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is also looking for approval to use 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. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to . It also requires employees who have accepted the deal to repay the money if they take another federal government task within five years.

Only a number of agencies have actually telegraphed how many staff members they prepare to cut in the second stage 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 personnel.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members 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 prior deal by adding 2 months of complete pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark beyond typical 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)