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

Department workplaces bought shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans for massive layoffs

(Adds 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government companies rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations belong to the department’s “final objective,” it stated in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to get rid of the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and provides 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 required.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm ordered workplaces in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to concerns about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.

Similar closures acted 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 secures Americans versus unethical lenders.

The layoffs are the current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually 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 dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated several White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have confronted mad constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public move to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have been purchased to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have provided staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, chaos, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of employees who have actually dedicated their professions 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 declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually just openly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been pestered by mistakes.

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

The total improper payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used lump-sum payments of up to $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 uses, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday deadline, human resources professionals at numerous federal companies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered bonuses of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance specialists said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It likewise requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a number of companies have telegraphed how numerous employees they plan 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 used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were given until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 workers 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 prior deal by including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed remark beyond typical 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)