Educational employee has received a notice of fire
An email sent to employees in the education department told staff not to start work on Wednesday.
More than 60 Texas-based U.S. Education employees were fired Tuesday as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal workers, according to documents sent by educational institutions to union staff.
Education Division – The 45-year-old agency, which President Donald Trump and newly appointed Secretary Linda McMahon promoted the dismantling, has fired at least 25 lawyers in Texas, specializing in civil rights. It also closed its Dallas office and fired 27 employees. They fired an equal opportunity specialist in Dallas and Justin, cities north of Fort Worth. Midlothian and Cedar Hill Compliance Review Specialist. Tomball statistician. Conroe’s information technology specialist.
An Austin-based employee and lawyer have been fired.
Federal documents summarizing the dismissals obtained by the U.S. State-state showed that at least 64 of the 969 workers represented by the U.S. Government Employee Federation, 252 local laid-offs, are based in Texas. This count does not include non-union employees affected by those who may have made layoffs or voluntary acquisitions.
In a news release Tuesday night, the federal agency said total layoffs account for almost 50% of the agency’s workforce, or nearly 2,000 workers. About 1,300 employees were fired on Tuesday, and about 600 people have been bought over the past few weeks. Workers will be paid until June 9th, while some employees will take administrative leave on March 21st.
McMahon, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senator as Secretary of Education on March 3, said the workforce cuts are part of “a commitment to efficiency, accountability and ensuring that they direct resources where they matter most.”
But education advocates say reductions will impact critical services, including civil rights accountability, protection for students with disabilities, and distribution of federal aid and grants.
“Eliminate protection”
“This is not right,” Shelia Smith, president of the local AFGE 252 coalition, said at a press conference Wednesday. “What this administration has done is to eliminate surveillance, to eliminate the protection of American students in Texas, from K to higher education.”
The federal sector operates major funding programs for special education, low-income, bilingual, immigrant and at-risk K-12 students. Smith was fired from his position in the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office in Dallas and folded in a layoff.
The Dallas office, which Smith described as a school’s accountability barometer, served as a place where parents and students could help with civil rights issues. The office has reviewed thousands of civil rights complaints a year from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, including claims dealing with sexual assault. Gender, race, or religious discrimination. Accommodation facilities for students with disabilities, medical needs and learning challenges, Smith said. If the school is not following the law, the office will mediate solutions between all parties.
The Dallas office was one of six people closed nationwide, union officials said.
“The concern is where if we remove that whole office, where will all of that work go,” said Brittany Coleman, the union’s chief shop steward and attorney fired from the Dallas office.
Coleman cannot contact students and parents in ongoing cases or share information about the next steps, she said. She said she is not aware of the education department’s plans to exchange services offered by the office and fears that students will face the brunt of the impact.
Project 2025, a roughly 900-word presidential transition plan published by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, calls for federal administrations to dismantle the education sector and redirect more resources to the state.
Coleman was disappointed that the Trump administration portrayed the education department as futile and ideological, and she called it a totally false feature.
“We are here to make sure our children have equal opportunities for educational outcomes and that they are the best they can. We are not here to tell our district what to teach in the classroom. “It’s very frustrating and disappointing to hear that from people who are supposed to lead our agency and lead our country who don’t fully understand what we actually do.”
“We need people to run these programs.”
It reduces the number of experienced people managing education funding, according to Clay Robison, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association.
Robison also worried that staff cuts could reduce the federal response to civil rights complaints and reduce the oversight that mandated the legal obligations of civil rights law.
“We need people to run these programs,” Robison said. “They are not active on their own. Texas schools are already underfunded, which is a key source of funding that is important for these programs.”
According to a February analysis by politicians, Texas received full data from the federal government from 2022-23 to 2023 public education funding.
The Hayes School District, which has earned about 10% to 12% of the federal funding, had not heard of the changes as of Wednesday, spokesman Tim Savoy said.
A more pressing concern for the district was state funding, he said.
“Without relief and appropriate state funding this year, districts will have to make very difficult budgeting decisions for the next school year, as most fund balances, including Hayes CISD, are significantly more strained,” Savoy said.
Robison also worries that a federal restructuring of public education funding that has more control over the state’s hands could mean a shift from students in most need to priorities.
“If these programs are put into the hands of Texas leadership, we are afraid of the future of these programs,” Robison said.
In a statement, a spokesman for Texas Educational Institutions said that the agency is not aware of changes to federal Department of Education’s funding distribution, but will notify schools of adjustments if they are reported or reported.
