White House Guts Education Department With More Layoffs

The New York Times ^ | Oct. 14, 2025, 6:22 p.m. ET | Sarah Mervosh, Michael C. Bender and Dana Goldstein

[E. Pluribus Unum]

About a fifth of the agency’s remaining staff was affected, including employees working on special education, funding for low-income students and civil rights enforcement.

A pair of decades-old promises from Congress — ensuring disabled students receive a free and appropriate education and protecting all pupils from discrimination in schools — have been thrown into doubt after a round of sweeping layoffs at the Education Department.

The department’s Office of Special Education Programs was decimated by the cuts, which the Trump administration issued on Friday in its latest reduction of the federal work force. The special education office has been the principal government arm overseeing billions of dollars that support about 10 percent of the nation’s school-aged children, but will have fewer than a half-dozen employees, a reduction of about 95 percent since the start of the year.

The Office of Civil Rights in the department was also slashed. After starting the year with 12 regional sites, the Office of Civil Rights was cut in half in March and may go down to a site or two when the layoffs take effect in 60 days, according to data compiled by the union representing education workers. Over 22,600 discrimination complaints in schools were filed with the department last year, more than double the number from five years earlier.

And the layoffs gutted the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which oversees a wide range of funding for states and school districts. The firings included a team of employees who oversee federal funding for low-income students, known as Title I, which is the largest source of federal funding to school districts, according to three Education Department employees with knowledge of the cuts.

About 466 workers at the Education Department have been fired since Friday, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the breadth...

[tumblindice]

Disrespeckin me mang? Ah’ll bus a cap in yo monkey.....

One becomes a public charge in a wheelchair, the other as an inmate.
Teach them how to make a living and, where’s Sidney Poitier when you need him?

[lastchance]

The nation’s students are bound to grow smarter now. And I am not being sarcastic.

[Terry L Smith]

Boy oh boy!

I am so glad that this reporter classifies a R.I.F. as a layoff!
Thank you, Jimmah!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Student test scores have plummeted since the Dept of Ed was created. They have spent billions and produced zilch.

[lastchance]

State governments are not going to abandon disabled students. All those federal laws and policies are found at the state level as well. Some states may even have stricter policies.

What I hope it will mean is that people will be discouraged from filing complaints that have no merit because now such complaints may take longer to be reviewed.

[lurk]

The Ed Dept has given us this current public school system, pre-K to PhD.

I encourage every American adult to spend some weeks observing in the halls and classrooms.

[Brilliant]

Education is a state responsibility. Federal monies have not been well spent.

[lastchance]

I doubt it. Most likely it was for children who did not get a diagnosis that supports a disability claim. You also have issues with severely disabled students who basically need one to one care at school and many districts plain do not have the money for that. Parents sue hoping to compel the school to provide such services. Another common complaint is making special programs geared to disabled students (such as speech pathologists)to students not enrolled in the public school system. After all their families pay school taxes as well.

[Skooz]

Good.

NY Times tears make me happy.

[Myrddin]

State governments are not going to abandon disabled students. All those federal laws and policies are found at the state level as well. Some states may even have stricter policies.

My experience was different. My youngest son had an IEP in San Diego and he was getting a decent education. We moved from San Diego to Pocatello, ID when he was in 8th grade. Idaho theoretically has to follow those federal guidelines to generate and implement a similar IEP program. Idaho failed MISERABLY. The teachers didn't even try. Compounding the problem is that I had to be in San Diego to keep the household finances functioning, so I couldn't detect and correct the failing by the schools. By the time I did get home, I had a high school dropout. I tried to get my son to pursue a GED to no avail. He was perfectly happy to write enhanced first person video games in Lua and build complex computer configurations. No interest in school. His reward for that today is he is a manager at a Valvoline shop. That pays the bills and is decent money for a high school dropout.

[for-q-clinton]

Best shutdown ever. But Trump better keep his word and not hire these people back.

[Rummyfan]

Do away with the DoE entirely!

[hal ogen]

Good news! Firing these lefty parasites make a my day!

It is a good start.

[Lurker]

I voted for this.

L

[Jean2]

The NYT acts like that is a bad thing.

[lastchance]

I know you certainly are not alone in dealing with a district that just does not even try to meet even the basic requirements. I’ve not had first hand experience but a very close family friend was a director of our local school district’s “Diagnostic and Learning Resource Center” which was tasked with making sure students with disabilities got the diagnosis and needed resources they needed. I’m not even sure if most states or school districts have such a program.

Hearing her stories (which respected family privacy) helped me understand how important it is that parents keep pushing for the education rights of their children, just as you did.
It probably would not have made much difference if you had been in Idaho. I have a feeling even if you had detected and pointed out the school’s failings they simply would have made excuse after excuse.

PS. Your son was actually rather astute to figure out school was not providing him with what he needed. He did not drop out. THE SCHOOL DROPPED HIM!

[noiseman]

The special education office has been the principal government arm overseeing billions of dollars that support about 10 percent of the nation’s school-aged children…

And where did those billions of dollars come from? It’s the height of stupidity for taxpayers to send billions of tax dollars to D.C., only to get excited when D.C. sends a small portion of that back to them in the form of “free” stuff. And worse, to fear monger about what will happen if D.C. can no longer send back the “free” stuff like before.

The low-info types need to wake up and realize how stupid it is to send your money to Washington, only to let them act as a completely unnecessary middle man in funding things you want. Just keep your money and fund those things at the local level. Cut out the middle man who does nothing but steal and waste most of your money, before returning a pittance back to you in the form of “free” stuff.

[9YearLurker]

Maybe you also thought we had real “mass” deportations or DOGE had cut a trillion in waste, fraud, and abuse.

[FLT-bird]

A trillion obviously not but USAID and the Department of Education were two that I thought had been eliminated.

[trebb]

@SenSchumer @RepJeffries
And you helped - thank you!😜🤪😂🤣😂