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

Department offices purchased shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government companies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last objective,” it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal funding for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department’s dismantling, 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 announcing the layoffs, the company 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 spokesperson did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures served 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 dishonest lending institutions.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize 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 throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, regardless of lots of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force has actually frustrated several White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have confronted mad constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first noteworthy public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have actually used employees payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the countless employees who have committed their professions 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 wasteful and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only openly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The large majority 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 sharply 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 employees who consent 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, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels experts at a number of federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad claims after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided perks of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the money if they take another federal government task within five years.

Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed the number of workers they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending 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 used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 staff members 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 previous deal by including 2 months of full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed remark beyond normal 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)