According to the department, at least 240 OCR employees were fired on Tuesday, most of them lawyers investigating complaints from parents and families who believe that school discriminated against their child. The number of abbreviations is probably higher as this 240 does not include employees who are not alliances. As of last September, 568 people worked at OCR, according to Fedscope Federal workforce database.
A revised organizational scheme of the NPR department shows that more than half of the 12 OCR field offices will also be closed – in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco and Dallas.
Catherine Lhamone, who runs the civil rights service during Obama and Biden administrations, says these abbreviations are “an absolute walk from our long -standing, bilateral civil rights commitments and our belief that each of our children is a valuable student.”
However, the Trump administration clearly plans to use this service: the day before the abbreviations are announced, OCR letters sent Up to 60 colleges and universities threatening to withstand federal funding if they do not protect Jewish students in their campuses.
“American colleges and universities are taking advantage of huge public investment funded by US taxpayers,” Education Minister Linda McMahon said in a statement. “This support is a privilege and depends on the thorough observance of federal anti -discrimination laws.”
Now, however, the office has at least 40% of less employees to apply these laws.
“I am open to the idea that losing half of OCR’s lawyers is a good solution,” says Rick Hess of the Conservative American Institute of Enterprise (AEI), “But that it is open to this does not mean that I believe.”
Hess says the reduction of the staff of this great must be explained, with full transparency, from the administration that makes the cut. In this case, this has not yet happened.
This is the work of Trump’s administration, Hess says: “To be transparent about what is happening, explain how this will work and ideally do this before the cuts are done, not after the cuts are made.”
Money will still go to the most vulnerable students, with less railings
The Ministry of Education administers two large, decade of school funding to help educate the most vulnerable students in the nation: those who live in poverty (Title 1) and children with disabilities (the Law on the Education of People with Disabilities or Idea). Both funding streams were created by Congress and are protected by law.
While the cuts on Tuesday do not directly affect these federal dollars, four sources with direct knowledge of the internal work of the department’s general adviser tell the NPR that the Trump administration has fired every lawyer responsible for helping the country and the people who can and do not use their federal money Violation of these funding laws.
These abbreviations still allow countries to continue to receive vital federal means, including money for homeless students and rural schools, but they eliminate the US government’s ability to offer either legal guidance or reserved – to ensure that money is used to help the children they were intended to help.
“This will have many negative effects on communities across the country, who currently do not even understand that their child (special education) or the support they receive for their child are directly related to u .s. The Ministry of Education, “says Patrice Willobi, head of policy and legislative issues at NAACP.
On Wednesday, speaking to reporters, President Trump has clarified the discount of federal supervision is intended as a sign of trust in the ability of countries to manage their own affairs.
“We have a dream and you know what the dream is to move the Ministry of Education – we will move education to the United States, so that countries, instead of bureaucrats working in Washington, so that countries can manage education.”
Another blow to educational research
In early February, the Ministry of Government of Elon Musk (Doge) deep cuts In the Department of Research of the Institute of Education (IES).
Dodge said it was reducing dozens of research contracts worth approximately $ 900 million. These abbreviations have included large-scale efforts to study all the best ways to teach literacy in early grades to how to help students with disabilities sometimes make the difficult transition from high school in the work world.
“This is decimation”, a source of knowledge about IES’s internal work said to NPR“Destroying knowledge what works for children.”
In addition to these research abbreviations, on Tuesday, the Education Department terminated more than 100 IES staff, including many scientific research analyzers specializing in K-12 studies and adult education and career education.
As of last September 186 people worked in IES, according to FedscopeS
There will be less resources for student loans and financial assistance in college
The Federal Student Aid Office (FSA), which administers the federal student loan portfolio, was particularly affected in the cuts on Tuesday, losing more than 320 unions.
This is at the top of other major staff losses discussed during an internal FSA meeting held on Wednesday morning, sources told NPR.
At this meeting, senior education officials and FSA employees said they would lose more than 450 employees to this forthcoming reduction in force-and combined 727 when you include test staff that was terminated, as well as the savings who agreed to retire or abandoned.
According to FedscopeFSA had 1440 employees since last September. This means that the FSA is essentially half cut off.
Sources familiar with FSA’s internal work, who would not speak publicly out of fear of retribution from the Trump administration, said these abbreviations, combined with a steep number of veterans employees who chose to leave, were devastating.
“We have lost hundreds of years of institutional knowledge,” an FSA employee told NPR.
Lost in the abbreviations, according to numerous FSA sources, were employees who helped the supervision of companies that manage the federal student loan portfolio, as well as a large group of IT professionals who were helping to maintain the online presence of FSA, including the observance of cybersecurity.
Sources tell NPR that the service may soon fight to perform even basic functions – at a time when huge changes will have to be made in the coming months, as Congress and Courts settled into the future of repayment, managed by income.
“Borrowers will call calls,” a source told NPR, “And they will have even less information than they are available to them nowS “
Millions of students do not need a reminder of what happens when the FSA does not take place. Very undoubtedly remember the Biden Administration disturbed Call The free federal aid application (FAFSA) and hoping these abbreviations of staff will not mean a return to the chaos of FAFSA.
Are these mass cuts legal?
This question has no clear answer, according to Kenneth Wong, a professor of education policy at Brown University. Wong says Trump “presses the border of the executive branch” by making deep cuts of staff working on programs created by Congress.
Some countries are already fighting the legality of redundancies. On Thursday claim to stop The Trump Administration from the dismantling of the education department.
“The dismissal of half of the Ministry of Education’s workforce will harm students in New York and the nation,” James said in a statement, “especially low -income students and those with disabilities who rely on federal funding. This scandalous effort to leave the students behind and deprive them of quality education is reckless and illegal. “
The Executive Branch has the power to manage the federal staff; This is not doubtful. The question for the moment is: At what point does the management staff undermine or even endanger a program that is protected by the Statute?
For example, the mandate of the civil rights service to apply federal civil rights laws is protected by the Statute. The elimination of the office would be fully considered a violation of the federal law, but it reduces office staff almost half?
Also, according to Rick Hess of AEI, there are basic policies for the civil service for hiring and termination of staff.
“These abbreviations are made in a manner that is in line with what Congress has allowed? To me as a person in education is not clear immediately,” He says.
The White House, Wong says, essentially asks the Congress: “Do you agree with us in the executive branch that this is good for us? “So I think the ball is already in the hands of Congress. “
While some Republicans in Congress have expressed concern Above the changes to the education department, especially around the protection services of children with disabilities, it is not clear that the party as a whole will have some interest in stepping back, even if the reduction continues.
Without congress intervention, it says Wong that the struggle whether these massive cuts have gone too far, they will most likely play in the courts.
