{"id":5530,"date":"2025-10-13T09:50:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/?p=5530"},"modified":"2025-10-13T09:50:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:50:56","slug":"special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration&#8217;s Mass Layoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Key Points:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roughly <\/span>466 employees<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the U.S. Department of Education was cut during reduction-in-force actions, devastating the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.k12dive.com\/news\/special-education-OSEP-OSERS-federal-rifs-Government-shutdown\/802662\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reports indicate that only <\/span>two top staffers<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> remain at OSEP, and just a single employee remains in the Rehabilitation Services Division.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.k12dive.com\/news\/special-education-OSEP-OSERS-federal-rifs-Government-shutdown\/802662\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Special education advocates warn that this dismantling threatens compliance with IDEA and the delivery of services to millions of children with disabilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Mass Layoffs Decimate OSEP\u2019s Capacity<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On October 10, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education delivered <a href=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/u-s-weekly-jobless-claims-rise-amid-ongoing-government-shutdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sweeping reduction-in-force (RIF)<\/a> notices affecting at least <\/span><b>466 employees<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including a near-total purge of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the Department acknowledged that the layoffs impacted its staff, it provided few details on which offices or programs would be hit hardest.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.k12dive.com\/news\/special-education-OSEP-OSERS-federal-rifs-Government-shutdown\/802662\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Previously, OSEP had mostly escaped major staffing cuts even as roughly half of the Education Department\u2019s 4,133 staff departed via retirements, buyouts, or prior layoffs.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But this latest wave appears to have obliterated much of its structure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), only two senior-level employees remain in OSEP, and only one in the Rehabilitation Services Administration.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The announcement has left states, districts, and advocates reeling over how the federal government can oversee and support special education under such constraints.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read Also:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/praxis\/how-to-become-a-teacher-in-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to become a teacher in California<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/praxis\/praxis-5857-practice-test-free\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Praxis 5857 Practice Test: Special Education Exam Prep<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Threats to IDEA Oversight and Service Delivery<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advocacy groups have sounded the alarm over the consequences of gutting federal oversight of special education. The Council for Exceptional Children described the layoffs as \u201cabsolutely devastating,\u201d warning that the nation\u2019s ability to enforce the Individuals with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ed.gov\/laws-and-policy\/individuals-disabilities\/idea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)<\/a> is now at risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, NASDSE expressed confusion and concern, stating that without staff to administer IDEA, federal funding may lapse and students with disabilities could be deprived of legally guaranteed services.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.k12dive.com\/news\/special-education-OSEP-OSERS-federal-rifs-Government-shutdown\/802662\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inside the Department, some insiders questioned how the agency can manage its responsibilities with so few personnel. \u201cIf there&#8217;s no staff, who the heck is going to administer this program?\u201d one department leader reportedly asked.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/special-education-staff-decimated-after-trump-administration-shutdown\/story?id=126432474&amp;utm_source=chatgpt.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With an estimated $15 billion in annual grants and oversight duties, OSEP and its sister unit Rehabilitative Services are critical to supporting state and local <a href=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/praxis\/praxis-5354-practice-test\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">special education<\/a> systems.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/special-education-staff-decimated-after-trump-administration-shutdown\/story?id=126432474&amp;utm_source=chatgpt.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As IDEA turns 50 this year, the timing of this dismantling raises profound legal and ethical questions. Without leadership, technical assistance, monitoring, and accountability efforts, states and school districts must shoulder greater burdens\u2014often without clear guidance or recourse.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points: Roughly 466 employees in the U.S. Department of Education was cut during reduction-in-force actions, devastating the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).\u00a0 Reports indicate that only two top staffers remain at OSEP, and just a single employee remains in the Rehabilitation Services Division.\u00a0 Special education advocates warn that this dismantling threatens compliance with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.4 (Yoast SEO v25.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration&#039;s Mass Layoffs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The US Department of Education laid off or fired many employees responsible for administering the federal programs for special education.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration&#039;s Mass Layoffs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The US Department of Education laid off or fired many employees responsible for administering the federal programs for special education.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"prepsaret.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-13T09:50:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Special-Education-Programs-Left-Crippled-After-Trump-Administrations-Mass-Layoffs.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kip Kip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kip Kip\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/\",\"name\":\"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration's Mass Layoffs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Special-Education-Programs-Left-Crippled-After-Trump-Administrations-Mass-Layoffs.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-13T09:50:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f04db4c8da64ac2e4cb301370d8c4717\"},\"description\":\"The US Department of Education laid off or fired many employees responsible for administering the federal programs for special education.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Special-Education-Programs-Left-Crippled-After-Trump-Administrations-Mass-Layoffs.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Special-Education-Programs-Left-Crippled-After-Trump-Administrations-Mass-Layoffs.png\",\"width\":900,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration's Mass Layoffs\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration&#8217;s Mass Layoffs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"prepsaret.com\",\"description\":\"One Time Pass Guaranteed on your news Test\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f04db4c8da64ac2e4cb301370d8c4717\",\"name\":\"Kip Kip\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af817a714d2216b7db46bfc320173120ab5edecec1379d9d071d0ea16aee60d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af817a714d2216b7db46bfc320173120ab5edecec1379d9d071d0ea16aee60d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kip Kip\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration's Mass Layoffs","description":"The US Department of Education laid off or fired many employees responsible for administering the federal programs for special education.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration's Mass Layoffs","og_description":"The US Department of Education laid off or fired many employees responsible for administering the federal programs for special education.","og_url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/","og_site_name":"prepsaret.com","article_published_time":"2025-10-13T09:50:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Special-Education-Programs-Left-Crippled-After-Trump-Administrations-Mass-Layoffs.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kip Kip","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kip Kip","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/","url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/","name":"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration's Mass Layoffs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Special-Education-Programs-Left-Crippled-After-Trump-Administrations-Mass-Layoffs.png","datePublished":"2025-10-13T09:50:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f04db4c8da64ac2e4cb301370d8c4717"},"description":"The US Department of Education laid off or fired many employees responsible for administering the federal programs for special education.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Special-Education-Programs-Left-Crippled-After-Trump-Administrations-Mass-Layoffs.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Special-Education-Programs-Left-Crippled-After-Trump-Administrations-Mass-Layoffs.png","width":900,"height":500,"caption":"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration's Mass Layoffs"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/special-education-programs-left-crippled-after-trump-administrations-mass-layoffs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Special Education Programs Left Crippled After Trump Administration&#8217;s Mass Layoffs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/","name":"prepsaret.com","description":"One Time Pass Guaranteed on your news Test","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f04db4c8da64ac2e4cb301370d8c4717","name":"Kip Kip","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af817a714d2216b7db46bfc320173120ab5edecec1379d9d071d0ea16aee60d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af817a714d2216b7db46bfc320173120ab5edecec1379d9d071d0ea16aee60d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kip Kip"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5534,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530\/revisions\/5534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}