US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its
Department offices ordered shut down up until Thursday
Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is deadline to submit strategies for massive layoffs
(Adds new government report on inappropriate 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 entirely, as government companies rushed to meet President Donald Trump’s due date to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.
The terminations become part of the department’s “final mission,” it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal financing for clingy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” including that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.
Before revealing the layoffs, the firm bought 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 aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful lenders.
The layoffs are the newest action in Trump’s sweeping effort to downsize the government, led by the world’s wealthiest 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 agreements, despite dozens of claims challenging the legality of those moves.
DOGE’s blunt-force approach has irritated several White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually confronted angry constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first significant public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. government companies have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have actually used workers payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.
Affected Education Department staff members will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department stated.
The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would combat the “extreme cuts.”
“What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of workers who have committed 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 bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only openly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.
The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in financial year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The overall inappropriate payments figure was down sharply from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO stated.
EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS
Other companies have provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who accept leave their tasks. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Fda.
The buyout uses, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to help fulfill the Thursday due date, human resources specialists at numerous federal companies informed Reuters.
The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad suits 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 federal government’s property portfolio, is also looking for 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. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently offered bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.
Human resources and public governance experts said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It likewise requires workers who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.
Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed how numerous employees they plan to cut in the second phase 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 preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.
OPM itself has provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided until March 12 to react.
On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all 19,000 workers 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 prior offer 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 might not be grabbed remark outside of regular 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)
