Half the Staff Gone. $900 Million in Research Terminated.
The Department of Education has been cut from 4,000 to roughly 2,000 employees. DOGE terminated 64 research contracts worth $900 million. The Office for Civil Rights lost 40% of its attorneys. Those are the people who investigate discrimination complaints and enforce disability protections under federal civil rights law.
4,000 → 2,000 employees. $900 million in research contracts terminated. 40% of civil rights attorneys gone. 50 million children depend on the agency.
The Department serves 50 million students in public schools. It funds special education (IDEA), school meals, Title I for low-income schools, Pell Grants, and the federal student loan system. None of these programs have a backup.
What Gets Lost
Without the Department, disability protections under IDEA have no federal enforcer. Schools that discriminate have no federal investigator. Title I funding for the poorest schools has no administrator.
States are not equipped to absorb these functions. Many are already using education policy as a political weapon, banning books and defunding public schools through vouchers.
What You Can Do
- Write your representative about defending public education →
- Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask whether your representative supports restoring Department of Education staffing.
- Read the Education hub for the full picture.