US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its
Department workplaces purchased shut down until Thursday
Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is deadline to submit plans 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.
The terminations belong to the department’s “final mission,” it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to remove the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for clingy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s required.” The layoffs would leave the with 2,183 workers, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.
Before announcing the layoffs, the company bought workplaces in the Washington location near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.
Similar closures worked as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus unscrupulous lenders.
The layoffs are the most recent step 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 actually cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, in spite of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.
DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated several White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have faced angry constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first significant public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. federal government agencies have actually been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have actually offered staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s need.
Affected Education Department employees will be put 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 untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine 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 actually argued that the government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually only openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.
The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in incorrect payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because financial 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 companies have actually offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who agree to 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 Fda.
The buyout uses, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday due date, personnels specialists at numerous federal agencies told Reuters.
The Trump administration has been facing myriad claims after it fired countless probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.
The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s home portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed remark beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already provided bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.
Human resources and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It also requires workers who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.
Only a couple of companies have telegraphed how numerous workers 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 staff.
OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered until March 12 to respond.
On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 employees revealing 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 previous offer by including two 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 typical U.S. business 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)
