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

Department workplaces bought shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government companies scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to send strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “final objective,” it said in a press release, pointing to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause 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 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm purchased offices in the Washington area near personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to concerns about the nature of the security issues triggering the closures.

Similar closures served 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 protects Americans against unscrupulous loan providers.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize 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 across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite dozens of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force approach has actually annoyed a number of White House authorities and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have challenged angry constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his first noteworthy public relocation to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies have actually been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have actually used staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless 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 federal government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just publicly recorded a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal 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 outlays topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who agree 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources professionals at a number of federal firms told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s home portfolio, is likewise approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for remark outside of U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided rewards of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed the number of employees they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 employees revealing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior deal by including 2 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 comment outside of regular U.S. service 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)