At least 240 OCR employees were fired Tuesday, most of whom lawyers investigated complaints from parents and families who believe a school has discriminated against their children, according to department data. The number of layoffs may be higher, as 240 does not include non-union employees. As of September last year, 568 people were working in OCR. FedScope Federal Labor Database.
The revision department organization chart obtained by NPR shows that more than half of OCR’s 12 on-site offices will also be closed – New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco and Dallas.
Catherine Lhamon, who runs the Office of Civil Rights during the Obama and Biden administrations, said the cuts were “an absolute walk compared to our long bipartisan commitment to civil rights, and we believe each of our children is a valuable learner.”
Still, the Trump administration obviously plans to use this office: the day before the announcement of layoffs, OCR Send a letter For 60 universities, they threaten to withhold federal funds if they do not protect Jewish students on campus.
“U.S. universities benefit from huge public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “This support is a privilege and it depends on careful compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws.”
But now, the office has reduced its staff by at least 40% to enforce these laws.
“I think that losing half of the lawyers at OCR is a good decision, and it is a good decision,” said Rick Hess of the Conservative American Enterprise Academy (AEI). “But opening up to it doesn’t mean I believe that.”
Hess said such a large cut in staff cuts must be explained by the government’s cuts. In this case, this has not happened yet.
“It’s the Trump administration’s job,” Hess said, “to be transparent about what’s going on to explain how this will work, ideally doing that before the cuts, not after the cuts.” ”
Money will still flow to the most vulnerable students with fewer guardrails
The Department of Education has managed two decades of funds for schools to help educate the most vulnerable students in the United States: students living in poverty (Chapter 1) and children with disabilities (The Disability Education Act or IDEA). Both flows of funds were created by Congress and protected by law.
While Tuesday’s layoffs did not directly affect these federal funds, four sources directly understand the internal functioning of the department’s general counsel’s office told NPR that the Trump administration has fired all attorneys responsible for helping states and school districts to help states and school districts understand how and inability to use their federal K-12 currency, and that they can cause danger when states or districts appear to violate these funding laws.
These layoffs still allow states to continue to receive important federal funds, including funds for homeless students and rural schools, but they deprive the U.S. government of the ability to provide legal guidance or guardrails – ensuring that the money is used to help children intend to help.
“This will have a very negative impact on the community that currently does not even know children. [special education]or the support they get for their children, connect directly to u.S. NAACP’s head of policy and legislative affairs, said Patrice Willoughby.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, President Trump made it clear that the rollback of federal supervision meant trust in the state’s ability to manage its own affairs.
“We have a dream, you know we’re going to transfer the Department of Education’s dream – we’re going to move education to states so that states, not bureaucrats working in Washington so that states can do education.”
Another blow to educational research
In early February, Elon Musk’s Ministry of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Deep cut Research Department of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Educational Sciences (IES).
Doge said it cut dozens of research contracts worth about $900 million. These cuts include large-scale efforts to study from the best ways to teach literacy early on to how to help students with disabilities make the best ways to transition from high school to the world of work.
“It’s a disassembly,” a source of knowledge Tell NPR“Know what is useful to children.”
In addition to these research cuts, the Ministry of Education terminated more than 100 IES employees, including many research analysts specializing in K-12 research as well as adult and vocational education.
As of September last year, 186 people were working at IES. FedScope.
Student loans and university financial aid will have fewer resources
The Federal Student Aid Office (FSA), which manages its massive federal student loan portfolio, was particularly hit by the layoffs on Tuesday, losing more than 320 union employees.
Sources told NPR.
At the meeting, top Ministry of Education and FSA officials said they will lose more than 450 employees to reduce this reduction force – when you include probation workers who have been terminated and senior workers who agree to retire or leave voluntarily, they will lose 450 employees.
according to FedScopeAs of September last year, FSA had 1,440 employees. This means that the FSA is also essentially cut in half.
Sources familiar with the FSA’s internal operations will not speak out publicly because of fear of retribution from the Trump administration, he said the layoffs, combined with the large number of senior employees who chose to leave, are devastating.
“We lost hundreds of years of institutional knowledge,” an FSA employee told NPR.
According to multiple FSA sources, there are also companies that help oversee and manage the federal student loan portfolio and a large number of IT experts, which have also died in layoffs.
Sources told NPR that the office may soon be able to work hard to perform essential functions – a time when huge changes are needed in the coming months, Congress and courts will resolve in the future Income-driven repayment.
A source told NPR: “Borrowers will call the call center. ”
Millions of college students don’t need to remind you about what happens when FSA is insufficient. There is no doubt that many people still remember the Biden administration Trouble roll out In the free application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), hopeful these employee cuts do not mean returning to FAFSA chaos.
Are these large-scale layoffs legal?
Kenneth Wong, professor of educational policy at Brown University, said there is no clear answer to this question. Huang said Trump “is pushing the borders of executive power” by pursuing in-depth layoffs on staff of the program created by Congress.
Some states are already fighting the legitimacy of cuts. New York Attorney General Letitia James led a panel of 20 other state attorneys generals on Thursday Suspension stops The Trump administration demolishes the Ministry of Education.
“Frauding half of the Department of Education’s workforce will harm students across New York and the country, especially low-income students and disabled people who rely on federal funds. This cruel effort to make students abandon and deprive them of their high-quality education is reckless and illegal.”
The administration has the authority to manage federal personnel; that’s no doubt. The question now is: When will the manager destroy or endanger a process protected by regulations?
For example, the Civil Rights Office’s mandate to enforce federal civil rights laws is protected by regulations. Is it possible to completely eliminate offices that may be considered a violation of federal law, but cut office staff by almost half?
In addition, AEI’s Rick Hess pointed out that basic civil servant policies are also established for hiring and terminating employees.
“Does these layoffs be conducted in a way that meets Congress’ mandate? For me, as an educated person, it’s not clear,transparent He said.
Huang said the White House was actually asking Congress: “‘You agree with the executive branch, is that okay for us?” So I think the ball is in the hands of Congress now. ”
Some congressional Republicans Expressed concerns Changes in the education sector, especially in providing protective services for children with disabilities, are not clear to the entire party that the party will be interested in postponing it even if the scale of layoffs continues.
Wong said there is no Congress intervention, the fight to see if these massive cuts are too far away will likely play a role in the court.
