As reported by K-12 Dive, a report released on June 22, 2026 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that staffing reductions at the USDE at the beginning of the second Trump administration appear to have impacted units that were performing legal duties. In fact, the staff reduction of at least 1,579 of 3,902 agency employees — or 40% of its overall workforce — between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 31, 2025, resulted in the elimination of several suboffices in 15 of the USDE’s 17 offices. These included some that “appear to have been performing statutory functions or oversight and monitoring functions,” according to the OIG, which is an independent arm of the agency. The downsizing of the USDE also resulted in the termination of 90 grants with funding totaling $504 million. Teacher training and mental health services were most impacted by the grant terminations. In addition, the USDE terminated 129 contracts worth $1.3 billion.
In the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 14% of the office’s 177 staff at three suboffices were impacted by the March 11, 2025, RIF or by other means. This downsizing resulted in no employees in those OSERS suboffices to coordinate, monitor and oversee activities relating to policy formulation, program planning, regulations, evaluation, and grants and contract scheduling activities.
Also, the OIG report as pointed out that the USDE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had 598 employees at 11 regional offices and 18 suboffices on Jan. 20, 2025. The USDE’s reduction-in-force on March 11, 2025 impacted six regional offices, seven suboffices, and 291 employees. Another 55 OCR employees left through other means between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 31, 2025, which adds up to a total of 346 employees lost. The OIG report also points out that the statutory or oversight functions performed by the 13 impacted OCR regional offices and suboffices that had no employees by March 31, 2025, included conducting complaint investigations and compliance reviews of preschool, elementary and secondary institutions, colleges and other entities.
While the 83-page report does not offer recommendations, it does question the USDE’s move to withhold some of the documents and interviews requested by OIG due to ongoing litigation challenging the downsizing efforts. As stated in the OIG report summary, “Although the Department has repeatedly cited concerns about ongoing judicial proceedings and court orders, it has not explained how granting us access to requested documents and to staff would place it at risk of noncompliance with those proceedings and court orders.”
In the final report, OIG said the USDE provided no “corroborating evidence” that it continued performing certain statutory responsibilities referenced in the report since the March 2025 RIF.
Source: K-12 Dive