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What the Education Department layoffs could mean for students with disabilities
NBC News | Comcast ^ | March 12, 2025 | By Tyler Kingkade and Adam Edelman

Posted on 03/13/2025 5:43:34 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Massive layoffs initiated this week at the Education Department could hamstring the federal government’s efforts to assist students with disabilities, former officials and education experts said, citing blows to the agency’s civil rights and research divisions.

On Tuesday, the department began laying off around 1,300 employees, cutting nearly half the staff in its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and over 100 from the Institute of Education Sciences, according to information released by American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the union for department staff members.

The cuts in those two divisions mean there will be far fewer staff members to finish the 12,000 pending federal investigations into allegations of civil rights violations at schools — roughly half of which involve disability issues — and fewer employees to review and distribute government-funded research into effective ways to educate children with autism or severe intellectual disabilities.

The layoffs are the first step toward dismantling the department, a goal espoused by President Donald Trump and his education secretary, Linda McMahon. Experts say they raise concerns about what the future will look like for civil rights enforcement as the Trump administration continues chipping away at federal oversight.

“That’s hundreds of investigators who no longer work for OCR and whose expertise that OCR has benefited from over all these years that the nation is now losing,” said Catherine Lhamon, who led the Office for Civil Rights during the Obama and Biden administrations.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: education; journalism; mediapac; press
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1 posted on 03/13/2025 5:43:34 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“could mean”


2 posted on 03/13/2025 5:44:18 AM PDT by Fido969
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“That’s the biggest load of rubbish, I’ve ever heard in my life.” - Bo Diddley.

Disabilities my arse. Which one of those maggots came up with this crap.


3 posted on 03/13/2025 5:46:26 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (The commie pig, Ellissa Bumpkin, says Americans brains are not fully developed. She can KMA.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

A retarded agency claiming to be doing a health agency’s job and saying to keep them from doing it is a violation of that agency’s “civil rights.” This is retarded.


4 posted on 03/13/2025 5:49:17 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (The commie pig, Ellissa Bumpkin, says Americans brains are not fully developed. She can KMA.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“What the Education Department layoffs could mean for students with disabilities”

Don’t be fooled - 98% of ‘disabilities’ today are FAKE, which is, for example, why it’s so hard to get a decent parking space at supermarkets.


5 posted on 03/13/2025 5:50:28 AM PDT by BobL (The people who hate Trump demand that you hate Russia)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Cats and dogs living together in harmony! Women and children hardest hit!
“Could” happen!


6 posted on 03/13/2025 5:53:59 AM PDT by vpintheak (Screw the ChiComms! America first!)
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To: BobL

HHS handles disabilities issues. Be more efficient and add Department of Education details under one roof. Of course someone would have to actually do the work.


7 posted on 03/13/2025 5:54:25 AM PDT by griswold3 (Truth Beauty and Goodness)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Still waiting for interviews of laid of media employees and their sob stories


8 posted on 03/13/2025 5:58:32 AM PDT by blitz128
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So now the left,are all worried about disabled children? Why just a week ago they were advocating for destroying disabled fetuses before they had a chance at life


9 posted on 03/13/2025 6:12:33 AM PDT by Bob434 (...Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana)
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To: All
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/how-a-federal-office-investigates-and-resolves-discrimination-complaints-against-schools/2023/08

A civil rights complaint can take months or sometimes years to be resolved, but it can mandate districts to take steps to rid educational environments of discrimination if OCR determines that the district has violated students’ or staff members’ civil rights.

Just as I thought. I'm not surprised at all. Dragging it out and mandating whatever they feel like.


10 posted on 03/13/2025 6:19:59 AM PDT by ssfromla
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To: ssfromla
Just as I thought. I'm not surprised at all. Dragging it out and mandating whatever they feel like.

Also keeping their jobs by never solving the problems and making them go away.

11 posted on 03/13/2025 6:28:53 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If you are worried about how your child will do it means you have no confidence in your state government. Most red state voters are thrilled. If you live in California or New York you have no hope.


12 posted on 03/13/2025 6:32:35 AM PDT by McGavin999 ( A sense of humor is a sign of intelligence, leftists have no sense of humor, therefore……)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

It will all work out, the sky is not falling.


13 posted on 03/13/2025 6:36:30 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: BobL

In Oregon, overweight is considered a “disability” so workers actually put ON more weight to get funding.
I saw one guy so big in OR I nearly took another elevator.
Seriously!


14 posted on 03/13/2025 6:53:57 AM PDT by Zathras
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To: Tell It Right; All

Forgive my ignorance on this subject.

What was the budget last year of the Department of Education?

How many students/children are enrolled in the public/private/home schooled in the USA?

Here is my idea. Take all the money used by this department and divide it by the children going to school in some form.
Each kid then gets a voucher they can apply to the school(Public, private, home) of their choice.

Now, I am absolutely positive that the Teachers Union would absolutely HATE this idea. So, therefore it must make too much sense.

FLAME AWAY!


15 posted on 03/13/2025 6:58:51 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Disability is a scam.

Back in the day, half the kids in the ghettos were on social security receiving $500 a month for bogus “mental disability” .

The homeboys called it their “crazy money”

16 posted on 03/13/2025 6:59:10 AM PDT by rdcbn1 (TV )
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To: rdcbn1
Disability is a scam. Back in the day, half the kids in the ghettos were on social security receiving $500 a month for bogus “mental disability” . The homeboys called it their “crazy money”

Talk about reparations, these and other forms of reparations have been going on for many decades.

17 posted on 03/13/2025 7:02:30 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: woodbutcher1963
Some red states are implementing school vouchers. While Trump is in office there's more lee-way for states to do this and still get federal money.

Ultimately the more long term solution is to reduce federal taxes so that the money doesn't leave the state, requiring the state to play by the federal govt's rules to bring the money back into the state. That might mean even red states having to raise taxes some to take on the entire financial burden of public schools. But at least there would be no federal strings attached like when you can or can't do school vouchers.

18 posted on 03/13/2025 7:07:43 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

What the Education Department layoffs could mean for students with disabilities

____________________________________________________

I know EXACTLY what it will mean...absolutely nothing significant.


19 posted on 03/13/2025 7:14:53 AM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
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To: Tell It Right

Definitely red states will have to raise more revenue to replace fed money. But it will be worth it. Hopefully red states will go back to basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. That would improve kids by a mile and save money:


20 posted on 03/13/2025 7:20:21 AM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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