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Education Department layoffs: Here's who could face the heat of Supreme Court order
Back in March, the Trump administration laid off 1,378 Education Department employees, following $1.5 billion in grant cuts.
Back in March, the Trump administration laid off 1,378 Education Department employees, following $1.5 billion in grant cuts, including $600 million for teacher training and $900 million for research. US District Judge Myong Joun blocked these layoffs in May, citing an illegal attempt to dismantle the department without congressional approval. However, the Supreme Court on Monday overturned the Boston court's injunction, enabling Education Secretary Linda McMahon to proceed with workforce reductions.
ABC News, in March, cited senior officials to report that the impacted staff will be placed on administrative leave starting March 21. They will receive full pay and benefits through June 9.
Who could be laid off at the Education Department?
K-12 Dive cited an organizational chart of the Education Department to detail the offices that were to be impacted by the March 11 layoffs. The report further listed about 970 union employees out of 1,300 employees who were let go.
According to the report, the closure of seven of 12 Office for Civil Rights (OCR) regional offices (Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco) jeopardizes over 30 million K-12 students across 60,000 schools.
Teachers: $600 million in training grants (eg, Supporting Effective Educator Development) were cut, with a $65 million restoration overturned.
College students: Federal Student Aid (FSA) layoffs threaten FAFSA delays for 17 million families, including 800,000 Californians receiving $3.5 billion in Pell Grants.
Civil rights advocates: 243 OCR staff, including attorneys, were cut, stalling investigations. Lawsuits by the NAACP and parents claim violations of Fifth Amendment rights.
Employees: 1,378 workers, including 970 unionized staff, face termination, with 600 taking $25,000 buyouts. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was reduced to under 10 staff, as per the report.
