Judge Rules Education Staffers Can Keep Their Jobs As Case Continues – The 74

Judge Rules Education Staffers Can Keep Their Jobs As Case Continues – The 74

uaetodaynews.com — Judge Rules Education Staffers Can Keep Their Jobs as Case Continues – The 74

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Education Department employees laid off during the latest round of federal staff cuts can keep their jobs for now, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Judge Susan Illston from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said she believes the employee unions who sued will be able to prove the government’s actions are unlawful “as shown by the haphazard way in which the (reductions in force) have rolled out” and that they “are intended for the purpose of political retribution.”

Illston, who temporarily blocked the layoffs on Oct. 15, said she was moved by some of the written statements from laid-off employees.

“Although we are here talking about statutes and administrative procedure,” she said, “we are also talking about human lives, and these human lives are being dramatically affected by the activities that we’re discussing.”

Her injunction means the staff must return to work once the government shutdown ends.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon cut 465 positions, including 132 in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 137 in the Office for Civil Rights and 121 in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Madi Biedermann, a spokeswoman for the department, had no comment on the judge’s ruling and referred The 74 to McMahon’s earlier X post calling the department “unnecessary.”

At Tuesday’s hearing, Michael Velchik, a Department of Justice attorney, argued that the government had the right to lay off employees because Congress hasn’t approved a budget for the current fiscal year.

”If you don’t have money coming in, you should be looking for ways to cut costs,” he said.

But attorney Danielle Leonard, representing the employee unions, disagreed.

“What counsel is arguing is that if Congress lets government funding lapse for one day, the president can fire the entire federal government,” she said. “That is absurd.”

The cuts were the Trump administration’s latest move toward eliminating an agency that it argues should never have existed in the first place. McMahon acknowledges that Congress has the final word on whether the department shuts down, but so far, members have taken no action on a proposal that is likely to fail in the Senate. Two weeks into the government shutdown, McMahon downplayed the cuts, saying that money was still flowing to the states, and some conservatives argue advocates have overreacted to the layoffs. In a commentary, the American Enterprise Institute’s Rick Hess said the department deserves credit for a smooth launch of this year’s financial aid form. But even he questioned the latest cuts, calling them “opaque, severe and lacking in any kind of clear justification.”

In their complaint, the unions said staff faced “political discrimination,” and even President Donald Trump has called the layoffs an effort to eliminate “Democrat programs.”

But in a response filed Friday, Jacqueline Clay, chief human capital officer at the department, said officials didn’t “target employees based on their political viewpoints,” but considered other factors including a shortage of funds.

‘Risks of harm’

Last week, over 60 organizations asked the Senate education committee to hold an oversight hearing into the administration’s actions, which they said have caused “unnecessary chaos” and “create immediate risks of harm to every qualifying individual with a disability and their family.”

On Monday, Democrats in the House also called on Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to reverse the layoffs.

Some worry that gutting the elementary and secondary office could mean a lack of sufficient oversight of Title I, the largest federal education program. The $18 billion fund is intended to support schools serving low-income students, with the level of funding schools receive based on a set of complicated formulas.

Without federal staff, there’s a greater risk that states might distribute the funds incorrectly, said Victoria Rosenboom, one of the four staff members who handles those Title I calculations each year. McMahon placed all four on administrative leave.

“Without us to monitor, the states might monitor less themselves,” Rosenboom said. Her team also gathers data from the Census Bureau every year to determine poverty levels. While there’s still someone in the budget office who can allocate the funds, she said, “they don’t do any of the data collection work. The data quality is all done by us.”

Others warn of a return to the days when states improperly used Title I funds for construction projects or replaced state dollars with federal funds.

“There were no limits on the imagination of schools in terms of how they would spend their money, and there were some pretty egregious expenditures,” said Dianne Piche, a former civil rights attorney at the department who is now retired.

In the early days after the law passed, a 1969 report from advocates pointed to districts “wasting millions of dollars” on purchases such as a Baptist church building in Detroit, 18 portable swimming pools in Memphis and equipment, including a deep fryer, adding machines and a piano, in one Mississippi county.

Vought wrote the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a vision for the Trump administration that argued for turning Title I into a block grant. While McMahon’s budget proposal didn’t go that far, she’s currently considering a waiver request from Iowa to roll Title I and other federal funds into a block grant. Indiana submitted a similar proposal, but it excludes Title I.

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed a block grant during the first Trump administration, but the plan then was to “keep the department functioning,” said Rosenboom, who joined the department in 2019. “At that time, there was still some unease about our future, but definitely not to the same degree as with this administration.”

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Disclaimer: This news article has been republished exactly as it appeared on its original source, without any modification.
We do not take any responsibility for its content, which remains solely the responsibility of the original publisher.

Author: Linda Jacobson
Published on: 2025-10-29 00:34:00
Source: www.the74million.org

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Madi Biedermann, a spokeswoman for the department, had no comment on the judge’s ruling and referred The 74 to McMahon’s earlier X post calling the department “unnecessary.” nnnnAt Tuesday’s hearing, Michael Velchik, a Department of Justice attorney, argued that the government had the right to lay off employees because Congress hasn’t approved a budget for the current fiscal year.nnnn”If you don’t have money coming in, you should be looking for ways to cut costs,” he said. nnnnBut attorney Danielle Leonard, representing the employee unions, disagreed.nnnn“What counsel is arguing is that if Congress lets government funding lapse for one day, the president can fire the entire federal government,” she said. “That is absurd.”nnnnThe cuts were the Trump administration’s latest move toward eliminating an agency that it argues should never have existed in the first place. 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But even he questioned the latest cuts, calling them “opaque, severe and lacking in any kind of clear justification.” nnnnn46 years of the Department of Education:📚 Over $3 trillion in spending📉 Falling reading and math scores🏫 Bloated bureaucracyWe don’t need a birthday cake; we need an eviction notice.— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) October 18, 2025nnnnnIn their complaint, the unions said staff faced “political discrimination,” and even President Donald Trump has called the layoffs an effort to eliminate “Democrat programs.” nnnnBut in a response filed Friday, Jacqueline Clay, chief human capital officer at the department, said officials didn’t “target employees based on their political viewpoints,” but considered other factors including a shortage of funds.nnnn‘Risks of harm’nnnnLast week, over 60 organizations asked the Senate education committee to hold an oversight hearing into the administration’s actions, which they said have caused “unnecessary chaos” and “create immediate risks of harm to every qualifying individual with a disability and their family.” nnnnOn Monday, Democrats in the House also called on Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to reverse the layoffs.nnnnRelatedCourt Blocks Shutdown Layoffs, But Experts Say Ed Dept. Programs Still in DangernnnnSome worry that gutting the elementary and secondary office could mean a lack of sufficient oversight of Title I, the largest federal education program. The $18 billion fund is intended to support schools serving low-income students, with the level of funding schools receive based on a set of complicated formulas. nnnnWithout federal staff, there’s a greater risk that states might distribute the funds incorrectly, said Victoria Rosenboom, one of the four staff members who handles those Title I calculations each year. McMahon placed all four on administrative leave. nnnn“Without us to monitor, the states might monitor less themselves,” Rosenboom said. Her team also gathers data from the Census Bureau every year to determine poverty levels. While there’s still someone in the budget office who can allocate the funds, she said, “they don’t do any of the data collection work. The data quality is all done by us.” nnnnOthers warn of a return to the days when states improperly used Title I funds for construction projects or replaced state dollars with federal funds. nnnn“There were no limits on the imagination of schools in terms of how they would spend their money, and there were some pretty egregious expenditures,” said Dianne Piche, a former civil rights attorney at the department who is now retired. nnnnIn the early days after the law passed, a 1969 report from advocates pointed to districts “wasting millions of dollars” on purchases such as a Baptist church building in Detroit, 18 portable swimming pools in Memphis and equipment, including a deep fryer, adding machines and a piano, in one Mississippi county. nnnnVought wrote the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a vision for the Trump administration that argued for turning Title I into a block grant. 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Author: uaetodaynews
Published on: 2025-10-29 05:23:00
Source: uaetodaynews.com