The Department of Education has dismissed nearly all employees in its Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services as part of a new round of layoffs that began on Friday, according to the union representing agency staff.
The exact number of layoffs remains unclear, as the agency has not released an official estimate. An Education Department spokesperson confirmed Friday that the agency would be included in the reduction in force but did not specify how many positions would be cut or which divisions would be affected.
A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget, where Director Russell Vought announced the layoffs in a post on X, described the government-wide cuts as “substantial.”
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Rachel Gittleman, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, said reports from staff and managers indicate that the workforce reduction affected most employees below the leadership level. She added that workers in the department’s TRIO college access program, housed in a separate office, were also among those let go.
“Once again, the Trump administration is acting as though they have impunity to cut staff from an already lean, efficient agency,” Gittleman said in a prepared statement. “Dismantling the government through mass firings, especially at the ED, is not the solution to our problems as a country.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has repeatedly emphasized that protecting the rights of students with disabilities and ensuring they receive the educational resources guaranteed to them by law are among her highest priorities. She has repeatedly said her goal is to shift more authority and responsibility for education to state and local government.
“I’d like to see even more funding directed to states to support that work,” she told CNN in March.
When the Trump administration began, the department employed just over 4,000 people. Following a series of buyouts, early retirements, voluntary departures, and a Reduction in Force earlier this year, its workforce has been cut by nearly half.
In a court filing Friday, the Justice Department reported that more than 460 Education Department employees had been laid off, eliminating roughly one-fifth of the agency’s already depleted workforce. The total is expected to rise further.
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President Trump has said that oversight of special needs and student nutrition programs will eventually move to the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., though that transfer has not yet taken place.
The layoffs, affecting employees across more than half a dozen federal agencies, are part of a broader Trump administration strategy to increase pressure on congressional Democrats to resolve the ongoing government shutdown. At the Education Department, nearly 90% of staff remain furloughed.
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