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

Department workplaces purchased closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government agencies rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s „final mission,“ it said in a news release, alluding to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.

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

Before announcing the layoffs, the company bought offices in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification 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 served as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus dishonest lenders.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, in spite of lots of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has frustrated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually challenged mad constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

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

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

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

„What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the countless workers who have dedicated their careers to serve their fellow Americans,“ said 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 claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other agencies have used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who agree 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 embraced as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday due date, personnels specialists at several federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s home portfolio, is also seeking 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 might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided rewards of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also requires employees who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed how numerous staff members they plan to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These include 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 staff.

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

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