US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its
Department workplaces bought shut down till Thursday
Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement
Thursday is due date to send prepare for large-scale layoffs
(Adds 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing entirely, as government firms rushed to meet President Donald Trump's due date to submit strategies for a second round of mass layoffs.
The terminations become part of the department's "final mission," it stated in a news release, pointing to Trump's vow to get rid of the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal financing for clingy districts.
Asked on Fox News whether the firings would lead to the department's taking apart, 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 workplace in January.
Before revealing the layoffs, the firm purchased offices in the Washington location near staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not right away react to concerns about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.
Similar closures served 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 against unethical lending institutions.
The layoffs are the most current action in Trump's sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world's richest 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 help and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite lots of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.
DOGE's blunt-force technique has frustrated a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, a few of whom have faced upset constituents at city center. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word on staffing, his very first significant public relocation to limit the Tesla CEO.
All U.S. federal government agencies have been purchased to come up with massive layoff plans by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several companies have provided staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump's demand.
Affected Education Department employees 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 combat the "heavy-handed cuts."
"What is clear from the previous weeks of mass firings, chaos, and uncontrolled unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of employees who have committed their professions to serve their fellow Americans," said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.
Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is wasteful and bloated. DOGE declares it has saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has only publicly documented a fraction of those savings, and its accounting has been pestered by errors.
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 majority were overpayments, the report said. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The total inappropriate payments figure was down greatly from 2023's $236 billion, the GAO said.
EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS
Other agencies have actually offered lump-sum payments of up to $25,000 before tax to employees who accept 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 uses, combined with another program that eases eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction way to help meet the Thursday deadline, human resources experts at several federal companies told Reuters.
The Trump administration has been coming to grips with myriad lawsuits after it fired thousands of probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically took apart entire departments like USAID and CFPB.
The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government's home portfolio, is also seeking approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an e-mail sent out by its acting head to staff 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 used benefits 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 . It also requires workers who have actually accepted the deal to pay back the cash if they take another government job within five years.
Only a couple of agencies have telegraphed the number of workers they plan to cut in the 2nd phase 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 personnel.
OPM itself has offered lump-sum payments to some 650 of its workers, according to another person with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to respond.
On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent an e-mail 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 deal by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment outside of typical U.S. service 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)