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

Department offices bought closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send strategies for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-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 personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government agencies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send 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 supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, rights laws in schools and offers federal financing for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” adding 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 agency purchased offices in the Washington area near to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down 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 throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and contracts, in spite of dozens of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has frustrated several White House officials and Republican legislators, a few of whom have faced upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his first noteworthy public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have actually used staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the thousands of workers who have actually dedicated their careers 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 actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just publicly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The huge bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal investments 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 stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to workers 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 offers, integrated with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at numerous federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad claims 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 handles the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It likewise requires employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the money if they take another government task within five years.

Only a number of companies have telegraphed how numerous workers they plan 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 offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered up 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, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by including two months of complete pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment beyond typical U.S. service 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)