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

Department offices ordered closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government firms rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to submit strategies for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “final objective,” it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to remove the department, which oversees $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 shootings would result in the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm ordered offices in the Washington area near to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly respond 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 aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, despite lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually annoyed a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually confronted mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first significant public relocation to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have actually used to retire early to fulfill Trump’s demand.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would fight the “exorbitant cuts.”

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the countless employees who have actually 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 actually 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 released on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who accept 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 provides, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources professionals at numerous federal companies told Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers 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 property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered benefits of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It likewise needs employees who have accepted the deal to pay back the money if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a couple of firms have actually telegraphed how numerous staff members they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming 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 workers, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were given up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an email to all 19,000 staff members announcing 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 offer by adding 2 months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment outside of normal U.S. organization 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)