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

Department offices ordered closed down up until Thursday

workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is due date to submit plans for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-new 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 personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government agencies scrambled to satisfy President Donald Trump’s due date to submit plans for a second round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “final mission,” it said in a press release, mentioning Trump’s vow to remove the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil liberties 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 stated “yes,” adding 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 revealing the layoffs, the company purchased workplaces in the Washington area near to personnel 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 concerns prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus dishonest loan providers.

The layoffs are the current step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s richest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, regardless of lots of suits challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually frustrated several White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually confronted mad 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 relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government agencies 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 firms have provided staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump’s need.

Affected Education Department employees will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department stated.

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no respect for the thousands of workers who have actually committed 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 government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has actually conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has actually just publicly documented a portion of those savings, and its accounting has been plagued by mistakes.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office yearly report released on Tuesday. The huge majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have used lump-sum payments of as much as $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 uses, integrated with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to help satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels experts at numerous federal companies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government’s home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed remark outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently provided perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It also requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed the number of employees they plan to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided until March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email 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 2 months of full pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed comment beyond typical U.S. company 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)