Trump’s Shutdown Massacre: Special Education Staff Wiped Out, Disabled Kids Abandoned
BREAKING: Special Needs Services “Decimated” After Mass Layoffs — Sources Say “There Is No Staff To Administer” $15 Billion Program
Education Department Insiders: “Who The Heck Is Going To Help These Vulnerable Students?”
WASHINGTON — The nation’s special education services have been devastated after Friday’s mass layoffs within the Department of Education, and it could have an immediate impact on millions of children with disabilities, education department sources told ABC News.
“Do people realize that this is happening to this population of vulnerable students?” one education department leader told ABC News, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution.
“[If] there’s no staff, who the heck is going to administer this program? That’s the absurdity of this.”
Here’s what nobody is talking about: Trump just gutted the offices responsible for educating America’s most vulnerable children.
And he did it during a government shutdown when nobody was paying attention.
THE FRIDAY SLAUGHTER: Entire Offices Wiped Out
The department leader stressed that several employees within the offices of Special Education Programs and the Rehabilitative Services Administration were cut over the weekend.
These aren’t random bureaucrats. These are the people who administer the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) — the law that guarantees a free and appropriate education for children with disabilities.
IDEA funds special education services to the tune of around $15 billion annually.
That money goes to states to help educate kids with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, and countless other conditions.
Now? There’s basically nobody left to distribute that money or make sure states are using it properly.
Rachel Gittleman, president of AFGE Local 252 (the union representing Education Department workers), believes all remaining offices in OSERS below the senior executive services level were eliminated Friday.
Translation: They fired everyone except the top bosses.
THE NUMBERS: 466 Workers Gone In One Day
A lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees says the Education Department eliminated 466 employees during the shutdown.
That’s at least another 20% of the agency’s workforce — gone in a single day.
To put this in perspective:
- The Education Department started the Trump administration with just over 4,000 employees
- Earlier this year, buyouts, retirements, and a previous Reduction in Force cut that nearly in half
- Now another 466 are gone
- Multiple offices have been “gutted again,” according to sources
The Education Department is the smallest cabinet-level agency in the US government.
And Trump is systematically destroying it.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR DISABLED KIDS: The Immediate Impact
Strip away the bureaucratic language and here’s the brutal reality:
“There is a risk that the money to educate their children will not be given to the state, and that their access to support and advocacy for their children with special needs will no longer continue because there is no staff available to administer IDEA,” the department leader explained.
Think about what that means for real families:
A child with autism who needs a specialized aide in the classroom? That funding might not arrive.
A teenager with cerebral palsy who requires adaptive equipment? The state money to pay for it could be frozen.
A student with severe learning disabilities who needs speech therapy and occupational therapy? The federal support that makes those services possible could vanish.
IDEA is a statutory program mandated by law with bipartisan support in Congress.
But laws don’t mean anything if there’s nobody left to implement them.
MCMAHON’S BROKEN PROMISES: “Protecting IDEA” While Firing Everyone
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has repeatedly claimed she would protect IDEA.
Her mission is to return education power and responsibilities to the state and local level.
She’s attempted to calm concerns by stating the department would continue to fully fund and carry out all of Congress’ statutorily required programs.
But the education department leader told ABC News that the latest firings completely contradict McMahon’s pledges.
“She’s consistently said she’ll protect IDEA,” the source said. “Well, now, this is not protecting IDEA if they’re getting rid of the team.”
The source added: “What is she doing with IDEA? Who’s going to administer it?”
It’s a fair question that nobody in the Trump administration seems willing to answer.
THE ABSURDITY: Telling Surgeons To Become Bricklayers
The education department leader made a devastating comparison about what happens when you fire specialized staff:
“That’s like taking a surgeon and telling them you’re now a brick layer or telling a brick layer you’re now a surgeon: It’s like you just don’t do that. It’s just so absurd.”
Remaining staff within the special education division will not be equipped to take on the responsibilities of those who were fired, the leader predicted.
Special education administration requires:
- Understanding complex federal disability law
- Knowledge of state education systems
- Experience monitoring compliance
- Expertise in special education pedagogy
- Relationships with state education officials
You can’t just hand that work to whoever’s left and expect it to function.
OTHER OFFICES DESTROYED: Communications, Elementary Education, More
Multiple sources said several other departmental offices have been gutted:
- Office of Communications and Outreach
- Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
- Various other divisions across the agency
The reduction in force “doubles down on the harm to K-12 students and schools across the country, which are already feeling the impacts of a hamstring Office for Civil Rights from the March RIF,” said Rachel Gittleman.
The Office for Civil Rights investigates discrimination complaints, including those related to students with disabilities.
That office was also slashed in March.
Now special education offices are gone too.
THE SURPRISE FACTOR: Nobody Saw It Coming
News of the shutdown firings was surprising even for many within the special education offices.
Employees who lost their jobs are “distraught,” according to sources familiar with the layoffs.
Many believed their positions were safe because IDEA is legally mandated and has bipartisan congressional support.
They were wrong.
Education department sources told ABC News that the job cuts could “hamstring states.”
“If this RIF notice is carried out, the Department of Education can no longer administer IDEA,” one source said. “I have no staff to put the money out and to monitor the states.”
States depend on that federal money and federal oversight to run their special education programs.
Now both are in jeopardy.
TRUMP’S SHUFFLE: Moving Special Needs To RFK Jr.’s HHS
President Trump has said the Health and Human Services Department under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will handle the special needs and nutrition programs for students.
There’s just one problem: That transfer hasn’t happened yet.
So right now there’s a bureaucratic void where America’s special education programs used to be.
Nobody at Education can administer the programs because they’ve all been fired.
Nobody at HHS can administer them because the transfer hasn’t occurred.
And millions of disabled kids are stuck in the middle.
THE LEGAL MANDATE: Congress Required These Programs
Here’s what makes this particularly outrageous:
IDEA isn’t some discretionary program Trump can eliminate with a pen stroke.
It’s a federal law passed by Congress and signed by the president (originally in 1975, reauthorized multiple times since).
The law requires:
- Free appropriate public education for all children with disabilities
- Individualized education programs tailored to each child’s needs
- Education in the least restrictive environment possible
- Due process protections for students and parents
States receive federal money to help meet these requirements.
But federal money comes with federal oversight to ensure compliance.
Trump just eliminated the people doing that oversight.
THE CODING EXCUSE: Blaming “Errors” For Mass Layoffs
In a particularly cynical twist, some officials blamed “coding errors” for certain CDC layoffs during the shutdown.
It’s unclear if similar excuses are being used for Education Department firings.
But “coding errors” don’t accidentally eliminate entire offices.
“Coding errors” don’t wipe out everyone below the executive level in special education divisions.
This was deliberate.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: The Winter Of Special Ed Chaos
Here’s what education department sources predict for the coming months:
States will submit their IDEA funding requests and compliance reports to Washington — and nobody will be there to process them.
Schools will encounter special education problems requiring federal guidance — and nobody will be available to provide it.
Parents will file complaints about their disabled children being denied services — and nobody will investigate.
Federal special education money will sit unallocated because there’s no staff to distribute it.
State education officials will call Washington for assistance — and their calls will go unanswered.
THE BOTTOM LINE: America’s Most Vulnerable Students Abandoned
Let’s be absolutely clear about what happened Friday:
Trump used a government shutdown to eliminate the people responsible for helping America’s most vulnerable students.
Not because these programs are wasteful — IDEA has bipartisan support.
Not because these workers are ineffective — they administer a legally mandated program serving millions.
But because Trump wants to dismantle the Education Department, and disabled kids are just collateral damage.
Secretary McMahon promises to “protect IDEA” while firing everyone who actually administers it.
President Trump promises RFK Jr. will handle special needs programs — someday, maybe, eventually.
And millions of families with disabled children are left wondering: Who the heck is going to help our kids?
DEVELOPING CRISIS — Follow for updates as the special education collapse unfolds…