According to a February 2, 2026 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) spent nearly $1 million per week on salaries for Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforcement staff it had put on administrative leave beginning in March 2025, paying up to $38 million in total through December 2025. In fact, between March and September 2025, while the majority of OCR staff were on leave due to the agency’s reductions in force, the office received more than 9,000 complaints and resolved a total of 7,072 complaints. It did so by dismissing 90% of them.
OCR was among the offices hit hardest by the USDE’s March reduction in force (RIFs), with more than half of its staff put on administrative leave and seven of of its 12 regional offices closed. Other offices heavily impacted by the agency’s RIFs include the English Language Acquisition office, which was entirely shuttered, as well as the Federal Student Aid office and the Institute of Education Sciences.
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