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

Department offices ordered shut down until Thursday

Agencies cut workers using lump-sum payments, early retirement

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

(Adds new federal 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 said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing altogether, as federal government firms scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump's due date to send prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations are part of the department's "last mission," it said in a news release, pointing to Trump's vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil rights laws in schools and offers federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department's dismantling, of Education Linda McMahon stated "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 office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company bought workplaces in the Washington area near staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not immediately react to concerns about the nature of the security issues prompting the closures.

Similar closures functioned as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus dishonest lending institutions.

The layoffs are the most recent action in Trump's sweeping effort to downsize the federal government, led by the world's richest individual Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has actually cut more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian administration, frozen most foreign help and canceled countless programs and agreements, despite lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force technique has actually irritated a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have confronted angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the final say on staffing, his first notable public relocate to limit the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. government companies have actually been purchased to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several firms have used staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump's need.

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 battle the "heavy-handed cuts."

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass shootings, turmoil, and unattended unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the countless workers who have dedicated their professions to serve their fellow Americans," said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have actually argued that the government is inefficient and puffed up. DOGE declares it has conserved $105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly recorded a fraction of those cost savings, and its accounting has been afflicted by errors.

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

The total inappropriate payments figure was down dramatically from 2023's $236 billion, the GAO said.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other companies have actually provided lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who consent 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout uses, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being accepted as a lower-friction method to assist fulfill the Thursday due date, personnels specialists at numerous federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has been grappling with myriad lawsuits after it fired countless probationary employees in a first wave of mass layoffs and basically dismantled whole departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government's home portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to provide the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for remark outside of U.S. business hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has actually currently provided bonus offers of as much as $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal obstacles. It also needs employees who have actually accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another federal government task within five years.

Only a couple of agencies have actually telegraphed how numerous workers they prepare to cut in the 2nd phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming 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 actually used lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. Employees were offered until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an email to all 19,000 staff members announcing a Friday, March 14, due date for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by adding two months of full pay in addition to the bonus offer, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS could not be grabbed comment beyond typical U.S. organization 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)