Education Department Not Transparent About RIF Cost or Effectiveness, Former Employees Say
The request cites roughly 1,000 layoffs and later rehiring, and asks the department watchdog to review the cost and legality of the moves.
- On Tuesday, former Education Secretaries Arne Duncan, John B. King Jr., and Miguel Cardona, along with Rachel Gittleman, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, urged acting inspector general Mark Priebe to investigate the costs of mass firings and subsequent rehirings.
- Following Supreme Court approval in July 2025, the Trump Administration's reduction in force took effect in August, resulting in roughly 1,000 department workers being 'unlawfully terminated or forced into retirement,' Gittleman said.
- Nearly 500 employees were targeted in an October 2025 firing effort that Congress stopped, while the administration signed over a dozen interagency agreements with Labor and Treasury to offload Education Department responsibilities.
- Defending the RIF as 'implemented carefully and in compliance with all applicable regulations,' a department spokesperson panned the former secretaries' records, citing 'failures of Common Core' and 'botched FAFSA rollout.'
- At the Capitol on Tuesday, lawmakers including Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen joined union leaders, with Van Hollen stating 'we are fighting back' against the administration's effort to dismantle the department piece by piece.
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21 Articles
Past secretaries, union leader call for probe into Education Department slashing • Rhode Island Current
WASHINGTON — Three former U.S. Education Department secretaries and the union representing agency workers on Tuesday urged the department’s top watchdog to investigate the cost and impact of mass firings last year. Former U.S. Education Secretaries Arne Duncan and John B. King Jr., who led the department during the Obama administration, and Miguel Cardona of the […]
Past secretaries, union leader call for probe into Education Department slashing • West Virginia Watch
WASHINGTON — Three former U.S. Education Department secretaries and the union representing agency workers on Tuesday urged the department’s top watchdog to investigate the cost and impact of mass firings last year.
Maryland Matters
Past secretaries, union leader call for probe into Education Department slashing
Maryland Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen joined three former education secretaries and the union representing agency workers to urge the Education Department's top watchdog to investigate the cost and impact of mass firings last year.
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