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

Department offices bought shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit strategies for massive layoffs

(Adds brand-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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government companies scrambled to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s ”final mission,” it stated in a press release, alluding 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 offers federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated ”yes,” adding that doing so ”was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company purchased offices in the Washington area near personnel from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away respond to questions about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against dishonest lending institutions.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s richest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, regardless of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually annoyed a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually challenged mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his first noteworthy public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have used staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department staff members will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department said.

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

”What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless employees who have actually committed 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 federal government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just openly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.

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

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who concur 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 Fda.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at several federal companies 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 took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed remark outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided bonuses of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

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

Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed how lots of employees 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 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 knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered up until March 12 to respond.

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

Late on Monday, its prior offer by including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment beyond regular U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)