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

Department offices ordered shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal government report on incorrect 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 altogether, as federal government firms rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “final mission,” it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s required.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the company ordered workplaces in the Washington location near to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to concerns about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans against deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the current step 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 actually 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 agreements, despite lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has actually irritated several White House officials and Republican lawmakers, 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 move to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government companies have been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have offered staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the countless workers who have 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 government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only openly recorded a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in incorrect payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have provided of up to $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, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to help satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources experts at several federal companies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired countless 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 government’s property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be grabbed remark outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered benefits of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It also requires employees who have accepted the offer to repay the money if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

Only a number of firms have actually telegraphed how numerous employees they prepare to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with understanding 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, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous deal by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed comment outside of normal U.S. company 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)