US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its
Department offices bought closed down till Thursday
Agencies cut workers utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is deadline to send plans for massive 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government firms rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a second round of mass layoffs.
The terminations are part of the department’s “last objective,” it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to remove the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal financing for needy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s dismantling, 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 announcing the layoffs, the firm bought offices 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 instantly respond to concerns about the nature of the security problems triggering 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 against unscrupulous loan providers.
The layoffs are the latest 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 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, despite dozens of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.
method has actually irritated several White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually challenged upset constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. government companies have actually been bought to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have offered staff members payments to retire early to fulfill 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 workers said it would combat the “heavy-handed cuts.”
“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, mayhem, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this routine has no respect 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 federal government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by errors.
The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The large bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion in that 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 firms have offered lump-sum payments of approximately $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 Food and Drug Administration.
The buyout offers, combined with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to help fulfill the Thursday due date, personnels specialists at several federal firms informed Reuters.
The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very 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 likewise looking for approval to use 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 might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used benefits of approximately $50,000, Reuters reported.
Personnels and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal challenges. It likewise needs workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within 5 years.
Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed how numerous employees 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 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.
OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were given till March 12 to respond.
On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 workers announcing 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 prior offer by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of normal U.S. organization hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)