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

Department workplaces bought closed down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds brand-new federal government report on incorrect 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 almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as government agencies rushed to meet President Donald Trump’s due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “final mission,” it stated in a press release, pointing to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, imposes civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department’s taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the firm ordered offices in the Washington location near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to questions about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.

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

The layoffs are the latest step 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 cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, despite lots of claims challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE’s blunt-force method has actually annoyed several White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually confronted mad constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government agencies have been bought to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting project. Several firms have used staff members payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s need.

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

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

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no respect for the countless employees who have actually devoted 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 bloated. DOGE claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually only 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 incorrect payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The vast majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have offered lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to workers who concur to 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, integrated with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to help satisfy the Thursday due date, personnels professionals at a number of federal agencies told Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s home portfolio, is also looking for approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment outside of U.S. organization hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has currently offered bonuses of up to $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 likewise requires employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.

Only a couple of companies have actually telegraphed how lots of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd stage 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 preparing to cut 1,029 staff.

OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered till March 12 to respond.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an email to all 19,000 staff members 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 previous deal by adding two 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 remark outside of typical U.S. business hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)