US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its
Department offices ordered shut down up until Thursday
Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is deadline to send prepare for large-scale layoffs
(Adds brand-new 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as federal government agencies rushed to meet President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit plans for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.
The terminations belong to the department’s “final objective,” it stated in a news release, pointing to Trump’s vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal funding for needy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department’s taking apart, 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, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.
Before announcing the layoffs, the agency ordered offices in the Washington area near to staff from Tuesday night through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to questions about the nature of the security problems triggering the closures.
Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against dishonest lenders.
The layoffs are the most recent step in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 jobs throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and agreements, in spite of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those relocations.
DOGE’s blunt-force method has frustrated numerous White House officials and Republican legislators, some of whom have actually challenged upset constituents at city center. Trump told department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his first noteworthy public relocation to restrain the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. government companies have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several agencies have actually offered employees payments to retire early to satisfy Trump’s demand.
Affected Education Department employees will be placed on administrative leave beginning 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, mayhem, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this regime has no regard for the thousands of 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 federal government is inefficient and bloated. DOGE declares it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by mistakes.
The federal government reported an estimated $162 billion in inappropriate payments in 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office annual report released on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The overall incorrect payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO said.
EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS
Other companies have actually used lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers 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 Fda.
The buyout provides, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday due date, human resources experts at numerous federal firms informed Reuters.
The Trump administration has actually been coming to grips with myriad suits after it fired countless probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.
The General Services Administration, which handles the government’s residential or commercial property portfolio, is also seeking approval to use the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent out by its acting head to personnel on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be reached for comment beyond U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided bonus offers of approximately $50,000, reported.
Human resources and public governance specialists stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal obstacles. It also requires employees who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government job within five years.
Only a number of agencies have telegraphed how lots of staff members they plan 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 employees, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is preparing to cut 1,029 personnel.
OPM itself has provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered until March 12 to respond.
On Monday, the HR department of the Fda sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 employees revealing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.
Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its previous deal by including 2 months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment outside of typical U.S. company 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)