A federal judge temporarily halted a U.S. Department of Education plan to gut its special education office, but advocates say that the future of services for students with disabilities remains uncertain.
Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the so-called reductions in force, or RIFs, at the Education Department and several other federal agencies on Wednesday. Unions representing many affected workers sued, prompting Illston’s ruling.
The move comes less than a week after the Education Department let approximately 466 employees go, following through on President Donald Trump’s pledge to lay off federal workers amid the ongoing government shutdown.
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Among the Education Department’s hardest hit divisions under the plan was the Office of Special Education Programs, or OSEP, which administers the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The office, which had about 90 staffers at the start of the year, was cut down to no more than a handful. With so few workers, disability advocates said there is no way that the Education Department could fulfill its responsibilities under IDEA.
Similarly, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, which is responsible for vocational rehabilitation, saw its staff slashed and there were more cutbacks at the Education Department’s already depleted Office for Civil Rights.
Chad Rummel, executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children, said he was happy to hear that the layoffs were blocked, but noted that the operative word is “temporary.”
“There are lots of opportunities for this still to move forward and erode the work of IDEA. Until we see special education staff back in place at OSEP, teachers and parents of children with disabilities should be concerned,” he said.
If the layoffs are allowed to proceed, disability advocates noted that IDEA remains in place. But without manpower in the Education Department to ensure that states meet their obligations under the law, it’s unclear what that would mean in practice. Rummel likened it to mandating a speed limit, but failing to post signs or implement enforcement measures.
“Why would anyone drive the speed limit?” he said. Similarly, if there is no one at the Education Department to enforce IDEA, Rummel said “the guardrails are gone” and “we’re literally in the pre-1975 era.”
For now, the federal government disbursed IDEA funding Oct. 1, so barring any issue with the system states use to draw down funds, money should be available, according to Audrey Levorse, deputy executive director at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.
“The question really becomes what does funding look like down the road? How will funds be disbursed and distributed in the future? Who will monitor expenditures to ensure federal requirements are being met? We just don’t have the answers to these questions yet,” she said.
In her first comments about the layoffs, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement on social media Wednesday that the shutdown “confirms” that the “federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states.”
“The department has taken additional steps to better reach American students and families and root out the education bureaucracy that has burdened states and educators with unnecessary oversight,” she said. “No education funding is impacted by the RIF, including funding for special education.”
If the Office of Special Education Programs is cut back to just a few staffers, Levorse from the National Association of State Directors of Special Education noted that there could be big implications for students with disabilities.
“Without OSEP to oversee the IDEA, there is a risk that the IDEA will be implemented inconsistently across states and potentially impact a student’s ability to receive (a free, appropriate public education),” she said. “While states do have some flexibility now, OSEP’s enforcement of the statutory requirements ensures a certain level of consistency nationwide. Beyond just enforcement, OSEP also provides quite a bit of guidance to states to aid them in their implementation of IDEA.”
The judge’s decision to block the layoffs is likely to be appealed, cautioned Stephanie Smith Lee, co-director of policy and advocacy at the National Down Syndrome Congress, who served as director of the Education Department’s Office of Special Education Programs under President George W. Bush. The Down syndrome group is one of about 500 organizations that signed onto a statement this week condemning the layoffs and calling for them to be reversed.
“Families still are, and should be, very concerned about the mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education that will have a deeply detrimental impact on children with disabilities and their families,” she said.
