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

Department workplaces ordered closed 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 brand-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 nearly half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies rushed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department’s “last mission,” it said in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to get rid of 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 firings would cause the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “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 workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company bought offices in the Washington area near staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help company, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which safeguards Americans versus deceitful loan providers.

The layoffs are the newest action 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 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 lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually irritated numerous White House officials and Republican legislators, a few of whom have actually confronted upset constituents at . Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first significant public transfer to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been bought to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, establishing the next phase of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have actually provided staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the countless workers who have devoted their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” stated Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has just openly recorded a portion of those savings, and its accounting has actually been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report launched on Tuesday. The large majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal outlays topped $6.75 trillion because fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees who agree 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday deadline, human resources specialists at a number of federal firms informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s property portfolio, is also looking for approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, 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 remark beyond U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided 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 susceptible to legal difficulties. It also needs workers who have actually accepted the deal to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within 5 years.

Only a number of firms have telegraphed how lots of workers they prepare to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

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

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an e-mail to all 19,000 workers 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 two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment beyond typical U.S. service 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)