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The country's specialized learning resources have been greatly affected in the wake of last Friday's extensive staff reductions within the Education Department and it could swiftly influence children with impairments, educational department insiders informed ABC News.
"Are people conscious that this is occurring to this group of disadvantaged learners?" one official from within the education department revealed to ABC News.
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"[If] there are no personnel, who is going to manage this initiative? That's the foolishness of this," the source, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, continued.
The department official underscored that many workers within the Bureaus of Special Education Programs and the Rehabilitative Services Administration — the pair of units which comprise the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) — were let go over the weekend.
The organization puts into practice the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the statute establishing complimentary and suitable education for pupils with disabilities, and provides financial backing for specialized learning offerings amounting to approximately $15 billion.
The education department leader termed the layoffs to this sector "preposterous," asserting that relatives of students with special needs will endure harm.
"There is a likelihood that the funding to educate their children will not be allocated to the state, and that their ability to obtain assistance and backing for their children with specific requirements will no longer be sustained because there are no staff members present to implement IDEA," the department source stated.
The education branch is the smallest agency at cabinet level within the U.S. government.
At the inception of the Trump administration, the branch comprised just over 4,000 staff members. Subsequent to buyouts, premature retirements, voluntary departures and a Reduction in Force, the agency was reduced nearly by half earlier this year.
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Various informants conveyed that a number of departmental sections have now been further curtailed, including the offices of Communications and Outreach, Elementary and Secondary Education and various other sectors.
A legal action introduced by the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest association of federal employees, stated that the education department RIFed 466 personnel – or at a minimum an additional 20% of the agency’s workforce — amidst the shutdown.
Rachel Gittleman, the president of AFGE Local 252, considers that all remaining branches within OSERS beneath the senior executive services tier were RIFed Friday.
“The RIF of OSERS and OESE intensifies the damage to K-12 students and schools across the nation, who are currently undergoing the ramifications of a constrained Office for Civil Rights (OCR) originating from the March RIF,” she expressed.
Insight concerning the shutdown RIF was unexpected for many individuals within the special education sections. The employees who forfeited their posts are grief-stricken, according to the informant acquainted with the RIF.
Education department informants also notified ABC News that the staff reductions could cripple states.
"If this RIF notification is put into effect, the Department of Education is no longer able to administer IDEA," one source stated. "I possess no staff to disperse the funds and oversee the states."
Critics of the Trump administration's strategies to close down the agency revealed to ABC News that preserving IDEA is among their foremost apprehensions. It represents a statutory scheme mandated by legislation and has cross-party backing on Capitol Hill.
In this July 31, 2025, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during an executive order signing ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, FILE
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, whose aim is to relinquish educational authority and obligations to the state and local echelon, has sought to relieve fears by asserting that the department would sustain comprehensive funding for and execute all of Congress' legally obligatory programs.
However, the education department leader told ABC News that the recent RIF contradicts McMahon's commitments.
"She's repeatedly declared she'll safeguard IDEA," the source stated. "Well, currently, this is not protecting IDEA if they're dismissing the workforce," adding, "What is she intending to do with IDEA? Who is going to implement it?"
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The Education Department did not immediately furnish a response to ABC News' requests for feedback.
President Trump has announced that the Health and Human Services Department under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will oversee the specific requirements and dietary initiatives for learners, however, that transference has yet to take place.
In the interim, the education department official anticipates that the remaining personnel inside the special education branch will be unqualified to shoulder the duties of those who were terminated.
"That's analogous to grabbing a surgeon and instructing them you're now a bricklayer or stating to a bricklayer you're presently a surgeon: It's like you merely don't execute that," the official stated. "It's simply utterly absurd."
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
