Congress has yet to resolve its budget dispute, further extending the current government shutdown and now gutting the office that oversees special education.
This story will be updated as new information becomes available.
On Friday, the Trump administration announced sweeping layoffs across the U.S. Department of Education, impacting approximately 466 employees, according to multiple reports. The reduction-in-force impacts dozens of staff members responsible for roughly $15 million in special education funding and for ensuring states offer special education services, NPR reported.
“This is decimating the office responsible for safeguarding the rights of infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities,” an anonymous source within the Education Department told NPR.
Reports suggest that all staff in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, except for a few top officials and support staff, were affected by the layoffs.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” over the weekend, Vice President JD Vance said that layoffs during a government shutdown are necessary to prolong critical federal assistance programs, including military pay.
“We have to lay off some federal workers in the midst of this shutdown to preserve the essential benefits for the American people that the government does provide,” he said.
Stephanie Smith Lee, co-director of policy and advocacy at the National Down Syndrome Congress, told Disability Scoop that the offices of Special Education Programs and Rehabilitation Services could be left with just one employee apiece. The National Down Syndrome Congress described the situation as a “five-alarm fire” in an alert sent to its members, the news outlet reports.
Other advocates, including Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, told Disability Scoop that she isn’t confident in the Education Department’s ability to carry out its responsibilities amid these cuts.
The National Center for Learning Disabilities issued a public statement in response to the layoffs.
“The administration has repeatedly stated, both publicly and privately, that it wants to support students with disabilities,” reads a statement from the organization. “Yet by laying off nearly all of the staff at the department who provide critical oversight and support, they are directly undermining the statutory protections Congress established under IDEA 50 years ago.”
Other organizations, including the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), are calling on individuals to take matters to their respective Congress representatives.
“These reductions are not a surprise—they were clearly outlined in Project 2025,” said DREDF Interim Executive Director Michelle Uzeta. “This Administration is moving hastily to advance its agenda of dismantling the federal workforce, targeting the people and agencies that provide essential services to disabled and multiply marginalized communities.”
The Education Department had nearly 4,100 employees when Trump took office. Today, that number has shrunken to fewer than 2,000.
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