How the Department of Education layoffs, proposed cuts affect Illinois
With nearly half of the federal employees from the U.S. Department of Education laid off this week and the Trump administration vowing to close the department altogether, there are potential impacts to Illinois cities and schools. The administration needs Congressional approval to completely get rid of the department. However, on Tuesday, the department began laying off around 1,300 employees, cutting nearly half the staff in its Office for Civil Rights and more than 100 from the Institute of Education Sciences. All employees working out of the department’s regional offices, including Chicago, were affected. More than 40 union employees in Illinois represented by AFGE Local 252 were laid off, including 27 in the Office of Civil Rights, 12 in Federal Student Aid, one in the Office of Finance and Operations, one in the Office of Communications and Outreach, one in the Office of the General Counsel, and one in the Institute of Education Sciences. The layoffs affected 969 union employees nationwide. Education experts across the country say the layoffs could make it difficult for the department to finish thousands of pending federal investigations into allegations of civil rights violations at schools — roughly half of which involve disability issues. Other laid-off employees reviewed research into ways to educate children with autism or severe intellectual disabilities. Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, has maintained that the department will continue to follow the law and funding to support students with special needs will still be provided. Attorneys general in 21 states, including Illinois’ Kwame Raoul, have filed a lawsuit attempting to “stop the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education,” according to a statement from Raoul. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, speaking to a crowd of teachers at the Illinois Education Association meeting in Rosemont, turned up the volume on his criticism of the Trump administration. “President Trump and his bootlickers — I have other words to describe them, too — are tearing down, even as we speak, the Department of Education from inside,” Pritzker said. Illinois was expected to receive around $3.56 billion in federal funding in fiscal year 2025. The governor’s said $1.33 billion of that funding would support more than 295,000 students receiving special education services. In the previous academic year, more than 225,000 students in Illinois received over $1 billion in Pell Grants to help make college more affordable and accessible for students from low-income households. Pritzker’s office is also concerned about potential impacts to the 1.6 million student loan borrowers across the state. “Our educators throughout this state are saying, ‘no.’ We will not let you harm our children. We will not let you take financial aid away from our students,” said National Education Association President Becky Pringle. McMahon told NewsNation that student loans and Pell Grants “might best be served in another department” but did not name that department.
With nearly half of the federal employees from the U.S. Department of Education laid off this week and the Trump administration vowing to close the department altogether, there are potential impacts to Illinois cities and schools.
The administration needs Congressional approval to completely get rid of the department. However, on Tuesday, the department began laying off around 1,300 employees, cutting nearly half the staff in its Office for Civil Rights and more than 100 from the Institute of Education Sciences. All employees working out of the department’s regional offices, including Chicago, were affected.
More than 40 union employees in Illinois represented by AFGE Local 252 were laid off, including 27 in the Office of Civil Rights, 12 in Federal Student Aid, one in the Office of Finance and Operations, one in the Office of Communications and Outreach, one in the Office of the General Counsel, and one in the Institute of Education Sciences. The layoffs affected 969 union employees nationwide.
Education experts across the country say the layoffs could make it difficult for the department to finish thousands of pending federal investigations into allegations of civil rights violations at schools — roughly half of which involve disability issues. Other laid-off employees reviewed research into ways to educate children with autism or severe intellectual disabilities.
Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, has maintained that the department will continue to follow the law and funding to support students with special needs will still be provided.
Attorneys general in 21 states, including Illinois’ Kwame Raoul, have filed a lawsuit attempting to “stop the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education,” according to a statement from Raoul.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, speaking to a crowd of teachers at the Illinois Education Association meeting in Rosemont, turned up the volume on his criticism of the Trump administration.
“President Trump and his bootlickers — I have other words to describe them, too — are tearing down, even as we speak, the Department of Education from inside,” Pritzker said.
Illinois was expected to receive around $3.56 billion in federal funding in fiscal year 2025. The governor’s said $1.33 billion of that funding would support more than 295,000 students receiving special education services. In the previous academic year, more than 225,000 students in Illinois received over $1 billion in Pell Grants to help make college more affordable and accessible for students from low-income households. Pritzker’s office is also concerned about potential impacts to the 1.6 million student loan borrowers across the state.
“Our educators throughout this state are saying, ‘no.’ We will not let you harm our children. We will not let you take financial aid away from our students,” said National Education Association President Becky Pringle.
McMahon told NewsNation that student loans and Pell Grants “might best be served in another department” but did not name that department.
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