In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Project 2025 proposed to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon. During the 2024 race, Trump denied any connection to the project, but now he proclaims it, praising OMB director Russ Vought "of Project 2025 fame."
Trump and Vought are now accomplishing their goal of ravaging the law. Instead of shifting it to a block grant, they have tried firing most of the staff who enforce it.
Hundreds of civil rights staffers were let go during the government-wide reduction in force last year. Many did not return even after the department started calling workers back, while other employees have chosen to leave in recent months as Trump has repeatedly vowed to shutter the agency and change what work is prioritized.The number of employees in the civil rights office has declined to 321 from about 575 in fiscal 2024, according to May data from the Office of Personnel Management. In December, when the agency tried to call workers back, the office had 403 workers, but that number has been continuously declining.
“There's been a steady parade of people leaving,” said Linda Mangel, who was an OCR enforcement director and resigned last year. “Even the people who weren't RIFed were so shaken by what was happening in the agency that they have steadily left. … It's like a sinking ship.”
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The agency called back 247 workers of the roughly 575 office staffers, with 85 ultimately returning to work, according to a January report by the Government Accountability Office, the federal government’s watchdog.
Staffers have chosen not to come back or are leaving the agency because they retired, got new jobs and are concerned about job stability. But some are uncomfortable with the work.
“After my RIF, I saw some things that were coming out of OCR that I think are not lawful and I would not be comfortable doing,” said Beth Gellman-Beer, former Philadelphia regional OCR office director, who had worked at the agency since the George W. Bush administration. “I figured if I go back, I'll probably be asked to do something that I'm not going to be able to sign, and I'll get eliminated anyway.”
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The strain the staffing cuts have left is evident: the office reached zero resolution agreements involving sexual harassment, sexual violence, seclusion or restraint, racial harassment or discriminatory school discipline in 2025, according to a report from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ staff. And it reached 91 percent fewer resolution agreements in 2025 than in 2017, the first year of the first Trump administration.
