US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its
Department offices ordered shut down up until Thursday
Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is due date to send plans for large-scale layoffs
(Adds new federal 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 staff, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as firms scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s deadline to send prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.
The terminations become part of the department’s “last objective,” it said in a press release, alluding to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal financing for clingy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department’s dismantling, 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, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.
Before announcing the layoffs, the firm ordered workplaces in the Washington location closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away respond to questions about the nature of the security concerns triggering the closures.
Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against unethical lending institutions.
The layoffs are the latest 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 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, regardless of dozens of claims challenging the legality of those moves.
DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated several White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have faced upset constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first significant public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. federal government firms have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several companies have actually offered workers payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.
Affected Education Department workers 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 combat the “heavy-handed cuts.”
“What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the thousands of employees who have committed 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 puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just publicly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.
The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that , 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 used lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept 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 provides, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources specialists at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.
The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad claims 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 handles the federal government’s property portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to personnel 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 already offered bonus offers of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.
Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It also needs workers who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within 5 years.
Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed the number of 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 staff.
OPM itself has actually provided 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 email to all 19,000 employees revealing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would need to retire by April 19.
Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous offer by including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed comment outside of regular U.S. organization 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)