As the US government shutdown enters its third week, the Trump administration has laid off nearly half of the remaining staff at the Department of Education — a move that threatens to cripple core programs supporting millions of students nationwide.

According to the Associated Press, the department has dismissed 466 employees, cutting its workforce by almost 20%. The agency, which employed around 4,100 staff when Donald Trump took office in January 2021, will now operate with fewer than 2,000, marking one of the steepest federal workforce reductions in recent history.

The latest round of layoffs hits the department’s special education, civil rights, and after-school program divisions particularly hard, raising alarms among education advocates and school administrators.

Key programs at risk

The shutdown, now stretching toward a third consecutive week, has already furloughed nearly 750,000 federal workers across agencies. Within the Education Department, staff cuts are expected to stall critical operations — from Title I grants for low-income schools to 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which fund after-school and summer programs for vulnerable children.

“These layoffs will delay reimbursements to schools and disrupt the beating heart of our federal public school programs,” said Sasha Pudelski, advocacy director for the American Association of School Administrators.

Programs aiding first-generation and low-income college students (TRIO) and federal support for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) also face uncertain futures as budget oversight teams shrink dramatically.

Special education gutted

Perhaps the most devastating blow has fallen on the Office of Special Education Programs, which enforces the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) — a federal law guaranteeing support for students with disabilities.

According to The Arc of the United States, the office will shrink from nearly 200 staffers to just five, leaving millions of families without federal oversight to ensure states comply with disability education laws.

“Families rely on these teams to hold schools accountable,” said The Arc’s CEO Katy Neas. “When Texas violated federal law by denying services to tens of thousands of children, this office intervened. That kind of protection may now disappear.”

Plans to dismantle the department

Sources suggest the Trump administration’s long-term goal is to dismantle the Department of Education entirely and redistribute its functions among other agencies. Workforce and adult education programs have already been moved to the Department of Labor, while discussions continue to shift the department’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department.

Union leaders warn the layoffs could permanently weaken federal education oversight. Rachel Gittleman, president of AFGE Local 252, said the cuts “double down on harm to K-12 students, students with disabilities, first-generation college students, and teachers nationwide.”

A hollowed-out future

With key offices now operating on skeleton staff and no clear plan for restoration, education experts warn that the consequences could outlast the shutdown itself, reshaping federal education policy for years to come.

“The department has been hollowed out,” Pudelski said. “And what’s left is a nation of schools without the federal backbone they depend on.”