The massive layoffs launched this week in the education sector can hit the federal efforts to support students with disabilities, former staff and education experts said they are citing the blow to the institution’s civil rights and research sector.
On Tuesday, the department began firing about 1,300 employees, cutting almost half and more than 100 of the Institute for Educational Sciences’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR), according to information released by Federal Local 252 U.S. Government Employees, department staff members.
The cuts in these two sectors mean that far fewer staff will finish 12,000 pending federal investigations into allegations of civil rights violations in schools – about half of which will involve issues with disabilities – meaning fewer employees will review and distribute government-funded research that will provide effective ways to educate children with autism or severe intellectual disabilities.
The layoffs are the first step to dismantle the division, a goal supported by President Donald Trump and his education secretary, Linda McMahon. Experts say they raise concerns about what the future of civil rights enforcement looks like as the Trump administration continues to lack in federal surveillance.
Catherine Ramon, who headed the Civil Rights Office during the Obama administration, said:
This week, Brittany Coleman, a lawyer for the Dallas-based Civil Rights Office, was fired this week, but said students with disabilities fighting for accommodation for test takers might need to wait longer for help from the department, for example, and it could be too late.
“What harm does that mean for their mental well-being and their achievements? And how does that affect their educational outcomes? Coleman also asked him that he was also Shop Steward, referring to the Institute of Educational Sciences layoffs. “What does this mean overall, as long as students with disabilities grow up and achieve the same educational goals and dreams that we all have?”
Neither the Education Department nor the White House responded to requests for comment. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, McMahon said the department still does what it needs to be done by law and the school still has funds to support students with special needs. Trump defended the layoffs on Wednesday, claiming to reporters without evidence that many of the staff who were cancelled were not working or doing poor jobs.
“We have the best people,” he said.
According to the U.S. Government Employee Federation and Unknown Number Supervisors, the Civil Rights Office has lost at least 243 eligible staff members. Historically, there were around 600 lawyers handling complaints claiming discrimination based on race, gender, disability and sexual orientation, but most already had more than 50 caseloads. Schools can also call civil rights offices for technical assistance to prevent violations of students’ rights, but that help may not be available so easily.
“Providing education for students with disabilities is complicated,” said Dennis Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parents and Advocates, who represents families of children with special needs at the school. “They must receive an education with professional instruction-related services, all the support they need for learning and growth, and they also need professional staff to interpret and implement the requirements of the law.”
More than 300 employees from the Federal Office of Student Aid were also fired, significantly reducing more than a quarter of the department responsible for student loans and university tuition subsidies, according to the coalition.
“I think it will have a terrible impact for students who are trying to get information about opportunities to attend college, go to school, take classes, or find Pell Grant Money.
Conservatives support the Trump administration’s move to disband the education sector and use a “time to send education to the state,” which frequently takes charge of school curriculum.
“There are 50 education divisions in the United States,” Tiffany Justice, co-founder of conservative activist group Moms for Liberty, said in an interview last week. “Every state has a ministry of education. There’s absolutely no reason why bureaucracy, deficits, costs.”
But the Democratic governor vowed to fight the layoffs on Wednesday — and the broader plans could close the entire agency — also show they are in a hurry to find ways to deal with the lack of funding and oversight that could result from the cuts.
“The state can’t completely fill everything. It’s certainly about education,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz, a Democrat, told reporters in a call. He later added that the need to deal with children with disabilities and other populations that are expected to be most affected by reshaped institutions could ultimately encourage tax increases.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said on the phone that his office has already worked with the state attorney general to fight layoffs in the lawsuit, “At some point, we’ll go to court again.”
All employees working in the regional offices of departments in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Cleveland will be fired as part of the layoffs announced Tuesday. It came as news to top officials in the offices and educational institutions of governors of many states in these cities.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Illinois Board of Education had not received “formal communication” or guidance from leadership in the education sector regarding layoffs, the spokesman said. There were no Kentucky education committee members either.
But in Montana, Republican Susie Hedaren, a public leader, said her office had been dispatched to layoffs from department officials throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hedaren said the update supported the department’s goal of “preparing to play a stronger role” in implementing some of the programs McMahon and Trump said they wanted to move to America.
