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

Department offices ordered shut down till Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare 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 almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government companies rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to send plans for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “final mission,” it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm purchased workplaces in the Washington area near to personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the most recent step 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 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, regardless of dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has annoyed 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 say on staffing, his first significant public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several firms have provided employees payments to retire early to satisfy 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 said it would fight the “oppressive cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless workers who have committed their careers 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 puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just openly recorded a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by errors.

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

The total inappropriate payments figure was down sharply 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 employees 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 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 deadline, personnels specialists at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an email 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 already used bonuses of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists 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 offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within five years.

Only a number of firms have telegraphed the number of workers they prepare 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email 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 previous deal by including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed 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, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)