WASHINGTON (AP) — A new round temporary layoff The Department of Education is running out of steam, an agency that was hit hard under the Trump administration. mass shootingthreatens to wreak new havoc on the nation’s students and schools, from special education to civil rights enforcement to after-school programs.
The Trump administration on Friday began laying off 466 Department of Education employees in a wave of layoffs aimed at putting pressure on Democratic lawmakers across the government. federal closure. The cuts will reduce the agency’s headcount by nearly a fifth, and it will be more than half its size when President Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
The cuts impact President Trump’s broader plans. shut down the department of education and outsourcing that work to other institutions. Over the summer, the department began transferring adult education and workforce programs to the Department of Labor, previously saying: negotiate an agreement Hand over the $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department.
Department officials did not provide details on the layoffs and did not respond to requests for comment. AFGE Local 252, the labor union representing more than 2,700 department employees, said the layoffs could wipe out several offices within the agency, based on information from employees.
The union said all but a few top executives have been laid off at the office, which enforces the Americans with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that helps millions of students with disabilities receive support from schools. unknown number is being fired at civil rights officewhich investigates complaints of discrimination at schools and universities across the country.
The union said the cuts would mean the team overseeing the flow of grants to schools across the country would either disappear or become significantly understaffed. The incident hit the office that oversees Title I funding for the nation’s low-income schools and its management team. 21st Century Community Learning Centerthe primary source of federal funding for after-school and summer learning programs.
It would also hurt the office that oversees TRIO, a series of programs that help low-income students attend college, and the office that oversees federal funding for historically black colleges and universities.
Union President Rachel Gittleman said in a statement that the new layoffs, on top of previous cuts, “double the harm to K-12 students, students with disabilities, first-generation college students, low-income students, teachers, and local school boards.”
When President Trump took office, the Department of Education had approximately 4,100 employees. After new layoffs, that number will fall to less than 2,000. Previous layoffs in March reduced the department by about half, but officials decided the cuts were too deep and rehired some employees.
The new layoffs drew condemnation from various education groups.
While each state organizes its own competition to distribute federal funds for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, a small team of federal officials is providing guidance and support, “which is absolutely essential,” said Jody Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance.
“The firing of that team is shocking, devastating, completely baseless and could cause lasting damage,” Grant said in a statement.
The government’s recent layoffs are being challenged in court by the American Federation of Public Employees and other national unions. A lawsuit filed in San Francisco alleges that the government’s Office of Budget and Human Resources overstepped its authority by ordering layoffs in response to the government shutdown.
The Trump administration said in a court filing that the executive branch has broad discretion to reduce the federal workforce. The union said it could not prove it was harmed by the termination because the employee does not actually leave the job for another 30 to 60 days after being notified.
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