US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its
Department offices bought closed down up until Thursday
Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is deadline to send strategies for massive layoffs
(Adds new federal government report on incorrect payments, paragraphs 12-14)
By 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government companies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to send plans for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.
The terminations belong to the department’s “last objective,” it said in a news release, pointing to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal funding for needy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause 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, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.
Before announcing the layoffs, the agency purchased workplaces in the Washington area near staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly respond to questions about the nature of the security concerns 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 secures Americans against unethical loan providers.
The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person 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, in spite of lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.
DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually challenged upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. government firms have been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have offered workers payments to retire early to meet 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 said it would battle the “draconian cuts.”
“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect for the countless workers who have actually dedicated their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.
Trump and Musk have argued that the government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just publicly recorded a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by mistakes.
The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The overall improper payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO stated.
EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS
Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of as much as $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 Fda.
The buyout provides, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at a number of federal firms told Reuters.
The Trump administration has actually been grappling with myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a first wave of mass layoffs and essentially took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.
The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s home portfolio, is also looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided bonus offers of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.
Human resources and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It also needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.
Only a number of firms have telegraphed how lots of staff members they prepare to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, 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 employees, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to respond.
On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members 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 deal by including two months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed remark 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, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)