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

Department workplaces purchased closed down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send prepare 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government companies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit plans for a 2nd 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 eliminate the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal funding for clingy 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 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the firm bought workplaces in the Washington area closed to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away 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 company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus unethical lenders.

The layoffs are the most current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s richest 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 of programs and agreements, regardless of dozens of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated numerous White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually challenged upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his very first noteworthy public transfer to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government companies have been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several firms have actually used workers payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.

Affected Education Department staff members will be placed on administrative leave starting on March 21, the department stated.

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, chaos, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the countless employees who have dedicated their professions to serve their fellow Americans,” stated 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 claims it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has 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 annual report launched on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The overall improper payments figure was down sharply from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used 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 Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Fda.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday due date, personnels specialists at several federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad claims 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 home portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually already offered rewards of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Personnels and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It likewise needs workers who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed the number of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd 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 planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were offered until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an e-mail to all 19,000 workers announcing 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 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 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)