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

Department workplaces purchased closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to send prepare for massive layoffs

(Adds 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 personnel, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s due date to submit strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s „last mission,“ it stated in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $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 shootings would cause 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, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before revealing the layoffs, the firm bought workplaces in the Washington location near to personnel from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned 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 secures Americans against dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the most current action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 tasks across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled thousands of programs and agreements, regardless of lots of suits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has irritated numerous White House officials and Republican lawmakers, a few of whom have actually challenged upset constituents at town halls. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government firms have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several agencies have actually offered employees payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

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

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would battle the „exorbitant cuts.“

„What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the thousands of employees who have actually 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 inefficient and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been afflicted by errors.

The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper 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 stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The total inappropriate payments figure was down sharply 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that relieves eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist meet the Thursday due date, human resources experts at numerous federal agencies informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment outside of U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently used rewards of approximately $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 also requires workers who have accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within 5 years.

Only a couple of companies have telegraphed how many 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 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 given until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent an email to all 19,000 staff members revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline 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 full pay in addition to the benefit, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS might not be grabbed comment outside of regular U.S. organization hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, composing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)