Overview

• Justice Department court filings report 466 Education Department layoffs, about one-fifth of the agency, as part of roughly 4,200 federal job cuts.
• Union leaders and staff say nearly all non‑senior employees in OSERS, including OSEP and RSA, received RIF notices, effectively leaving only a handful of top officials.
• Officials and advocates warn the department’s capacity to administer and monitor roughly $15 billion in IDEA funding is in jeopardy, with this year’s funds issued but oversight and troubleshooting uncertain.
• RIF notices state affected employees remain on payroll through Dec. 9, while the department has not detailed which positions were cut and many communications staff are furloughed.
• The administration says statutory programs will be funded and has floated transferring some functions to HHS, yet no operational handoff is in place as cuts also hit OCR, Title I, TRIO, and after‑school program teams.