US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its
Department offices ordered closed down up until Thursday
Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is due date to send plans 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 federal 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 objective,” it said in a press release, pointing to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which manages $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and supplies federal funding for needy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would cause the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s required.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, below 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.
Before announcing the layoffs, the agency bought workplaces in the Washington location near staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately 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 help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against unethical loan providers.
The layoffs are the most recent action 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 actually 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 dozens of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.
DOGE’s blunt-force technique has actually frustrated several White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have faced angry constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his very first significant public relocate to restrain the .
All U.S. government companies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, establishing the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have provided employees payments to retire early to meet Trump’s demand.
Affected Education Department workers 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 combat the “exorbitant cuts.”
“What is clear from the previous weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of workers 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 actually argued that the federal government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE claims it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only openly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by mistakes.
The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in improper 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 expenses topped $6.75 trillion in that financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The total improper payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.
EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS
Other firms have actually used lump-sum payments of approximately $25,000 before tax to employees 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 Food and Drug Administration.
The buyout offers, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to assist satisfy the Thursday due date, human resources experts at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.
The Trump administration has been facing myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary employees in a very first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.
The General Services Administration, which manages the government’s property portfolio, is also seeking 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 grabbed remark beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided benefits of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.
Human resources and public governance professionals stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal difficulties. It also requires employees who have actually accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.
Only a number of firms have telegraphed how numerous employees they plan to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending 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 provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its staff members, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to react.
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 prior deal by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of normal U.S. business 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)
