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

Department workplaces ordered closed down till Thursday

Agencies cut employees using lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to send plans 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 stated on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its personnel, a possible precursor to closing completely, as government agencies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump's deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department's "final objective," it said in a news release, mentioning Trump's vow to get rid of the department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and supplies federal funding for needy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the firings would result in the department's taking apart, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said "yes," including that doing so "was the president's mandate." The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 workers, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company bought offices in the Washington area closed to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters. An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately react to questions about the nature of the security problems prompting the closures.

Similar closures acted as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian aid firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which secures Americans against unscrupulous loan providers.

The layoffs are the newest step 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 cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign help and canceled thousands of programs and contracts, regardless of lots of lawsuits challenging the legality of those moves.

DOGE's blunt-force method has actually annoyed a number of White House officials and Republican lawmakers, some of whom have actually faced mad constituents at town halls. Trump told 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 ordered to come up with massive layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next phase of Trump's cost-cutting project. Several companies have offered staff members payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's need.

Affected Education Department staff members will be positioned on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department said.

The union representing more than 2,800 department workers said it would battle the "heavy-handed cuts."

"What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, turmoil, and untreated unprofessionalism is that this routine has no regard for the thousands of workers who have actually dedicated 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 conserved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually only publicly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually 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 yearly report launched on Tuesday. The vast bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal investments topped $6.75 trillion because fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms 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 Food and Drug Administration.

The buyout uses, integrated with another program that alleviates eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being welcomed as a lower-friction way to assist fulfill the Thursday due date, human resources professionals at several federal firms informed Reuters.

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

The General Services Administration, which handles the federal government's property portfolio, is likewise seeking approval to use the buyout payments to workers, according to an e-mail sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA could not be reached for comment outside of U.S. service hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already provided perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance professionals said the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less vulnerable to legal difficulties. It likewise needs workers who have accepted the offer to pay back the cash if they take another government task within 5 years.

Only a couple of companies have actually telegraphed how lots of they prepare to cut in the 2nd stage of layoffs. These consist of 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 staff.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another person with understanding 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 workers 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 prior offer by adding 2 months of full pay in addition to the perk, according to a copy of the e-mail seen by Reuters. HHS could not be reached for comment beyond typical U.S. company hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, additional reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)