ÂÜÀòÍø

On Friday afternoon, the Department of Education (ED) laid off about 450 of its staff as part of a second Reduction in Force (RIF). Most notably for district leaders, the majority of staff in both the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and the Office of Special Education (OSEP) have been let go. It appears that only a few program directors remain in OESE and there is only one person left in OSEP. These two offices oversee almost $44 billion of ED’s total $78.8 billion of discretionary funding, running formula grants to all states and competitive grants across the country. This includes $19.1 billion for Title I and $15.5 billion for IDEA. There is reason to be concerned that ED cannot effectively manage this funding without many of these staff and there could be disruptions to district and state operations including reimbursement requests.  

This new RIF calls into question the guarantees that Secretary McMahon made earlier in the year that the Department would prioritize supporting special education students and programs in any staffing changes. While it is always possible that the Administration can ask staff to return to the Department or make new hires, this RIF is not akin to a transfer of people, programs, or expertise to another agency — it represents the furthest step towards a total dismantling of the Department. 

Congress does not have any authority to reverse these actions, but there have already been court challenges. Following the directive from OMB to agencies to conduct layoffs, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)  challenging the action.  

ÂÜÀòÍøis monitoring this closely and we will update this blog as more information becomes available.