Silver Spring, MD – Over the weekend, the Administration carried out sweeping layoffs across the U.S. Department of Education, effectively shutting down the federal offices responsible for enforcing disability and civil rights protections in schools. Nearly all staff within the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) were terminated, leaving the nation without the federal infrastructure that ensures students and people with disabilities receive the education and services they are guaranteed under law.
“These cuts come during National Disability Employment Awareness Month and just weeks before the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,” said Lillie Heigl, Director of Policy at AUCD. “The timing is deeply troubling and sends a clear message about the value being placed on disability rights and education. Dismantling the offices that enforce IDEA and civil rights protections is not only unlawful, it’s a profound breach of public trust.”
What’s at Stake
Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP):
OSEP is the federal engine room for special education, ensuring that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is implemented nationwide. On October 10, 2025, all but two to five OSEP staff were fired, effectively ending federal oversight and accountability for IDEA. Without OSEP, protections for more than seven million students with disabilities will erode, and families will be left to fight alone for their children’s right to an education.
Office for Civil Rights (OCR):
OCR enforces federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on disability, race, sex, and age. In education, this impacts students, parents, employees, and community members with disabilities. Following this weekend’s mass layoffs—on top of March’s 43% workforce reduction and closure of seven regional offices—nearly all investigators have been dismissed. With thousands of unresolved complaints, there is now no effective federal enforcement of civil rights in education.
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA):
RSA is a subagency within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) that funds and administers programs that help individuals with disabilities gain employment and live independently. The reported large scale losses effectively suspend the government’s ability to carry out its core legal responsibilities under the Rehabilitation Act and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), jeopardizing employment, independence, and equality for millions of Americans with disabilities. /span>
Why It Matters
Together, these offices uphold the nation’s essential education and disability rights laws—IDEA, the Rehabilitation Act, WIOA, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Dismantling these offices violates congressional mandates, abandons families, and reverses decades of bipartisan progress toward inclusion, opportunity, and accountability.
AUCD urges Congress to immediately intervene, restore staffing and funding, and hold the Administration accountable for violating federal disability and civil rights laws. The protections enshrined in IDEA and the Rehabilitation Act are not optional and cannot be treated as such.
As IDEA marks its 50th anniversary, we must reaffirm, not erase, our national commitment to inclusion and equal opportunity in education.
Plain Language
AUCD is against the Trump Administration’s actions breaking apart the Department of Education’s disability and civil rights offices.
Over the weekend, the Trump Administration fired many people at the Department of Education. By doing this, they shut down the offices in the federal government whose job it is to make sure students with disabilities have rights in schools. Civil rights means that people should be treated fairly, and no one should be treated badly because of who they are. The Administration fired almost all of the people in these offices:
- Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) – This office makes sure schools are following the rules of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). OSEP turns IDEA from a law on paper into real changes in peoples’ lives. They also give money to programs for students in special education. On October 10, the Administration fired everyone except 2-5 people in this office. This will make it very hard for this office to make sure that schools are following the rules of IDEA
- Office for Civil Rights (OCR) – This office is in charge of making sure students are being treated fairly. When a student with a disability is treated unfairly because of their disability, they go to OCR to get justice. It takes a lot of people to look into cases where there might be discrimination against someone with a disability. Discrimination means to treat someone badly because of who they are. The people who look into these cases are called investigators. The Administration fired almost all of the investigators in this office. There are thousands of cases that haven’t been looked into yet.
- Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) – This office supports people with disabilities going from school to employment and living independently. The Administration fired many people who gather information about vocational rehabilitation, which is training people so they can get a job. This information is really important, but no one is there to get the information or tell the public about it. The Rehabilitation Act and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) are both laws that support people with disabilities going from school to work and helping them live in the community. Because so many people have been fired from RSA, the federal government won’t be able to make sure that people are following the rules of these laws. The Administration said that by December 9, the number of people working at RSA will go from about 60 people to only three.
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. It’s important to remember that many people with disabilities do not have jobs even though they want to work. The Rehabilitation Services Administration helps people with disabilities work, so we need their help. Instead of helping, the Administration made things worse by firing people in this office.
50th anniversary of IDEA is in November. IDEA is all about equal access to education for students with disabilities. It is concerning that the Administration is shutting down the offices that make sure IDEA’s rules are being followed. It seems like they do not care about students with disabilities.
Students with disabilities and their families have civil rights under the law, and people in many different government offices work hard to make sure schools are following that law. IDEA, the Rehabilitation Act, WIOA, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are all really important laws that give people with disabilities rights. Firing the people who work at these Department of Education offices is bad because it goes against what Congress wanted when they passed these laws. Firing these people will make it harder for families to get help from the federal government when there is discrimination in schools. AUCD wants Congress to get involved and fix things as much as they can. Congress needs to help re-hire all the people who were fired and tell the Administration that they need to follow the laws.
