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

Department workplaces bought shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new federal 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government firms scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s due date to submit strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s „final mission,“ it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to remove the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and offers federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s dismantling, 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 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the agency purchased offices in the Washington area closed to personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative 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 firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus unscrupulous lending institutions.

The layoffs are the newest step in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has 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 agreements, in spite of lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually frustrated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have faced angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first significant public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government companies have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have actually provided employees payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would combat the „extreme cuts.“

„What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the thousands of workers 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 puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has just openly recorded a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout provides, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, personnels professionals at numerous federal agencies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to provide 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 remark beyond U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already used perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It also requires workers who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of have actually telegraphed how numerous staff members they plan to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These consist of 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 offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 employees 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 previous offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of regular U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)