Skip to main content
Hemlock Collective Logo Hemlock Collective
Education

The Decapitation of the Department of Education

Executed
Case Dossier EDU-ADM-001
STATUS
Executed
SEVERITY
Critical
DATE
2025-10-14
DOMAIN
Education
SUBDOMAIN
Administrative Destruction
CAPTURE VECTOR
Institutional decapitation
TAGS
education special-education civil-rights layoffs project-2025 title-i
Back to Case Files
The White House executes mass layoffs at the Department of Education, effectively eliminating the Office of Special Education Programs (95% cut) and the Office for Civil Rights, fulfilling the Project 2025 goal of ending the federal role in education.

Summary

On October 14, 2025, the administration executed a “sweeping” round of layoffs at the Department of Education, targeting the agency’s enforcement and oversight arms. The cuts were not across-the-board efficiency measures but surgical strikes against specific statutory functions:

  • Office of Special Education Programs: Decimated with a 95% reduction, leaving fewer than six employees to oversee billions in funding for 7 million disabled students.
  • Office for Civil Rights (OCR): Slashed to near-nonexistence (potentially 1-2 regional sites), despite a record high of 22,600 discrimination complaints the previous year.
  • Title I Oversight: The team overseeing funding for low-income students was “gutted.”

Capture Mechanism: Administrative Sabotage

This case represents Capture by Destruction. The administration is not attempting to steer the agency, but to render it functionally comatose to bypass Congressional mandates.

  • Nullification of Law: Congress mandated the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and civil rights protections. By firing the staff responsible for enforcing these laws, the Executive Branch effectively repeals them without a vote.
  • Weaponized Confusion: Layoff notices were sent to official email accounts during a government shutdown—when employees were legally barred from checking them—creating maximum chaos and hindering union response.

Impact Analysis

This action operationalizes the Project 2025 goal to “end the federal role” in education. By removing the federal “referees” (Special Ed and Civil Rights monitors), the administration effectively devolves power to the states, removing the floor of protection for the most vulnerable populations (disabled, low-income, and minority students) and inviting a return to pre-1975 exclusion practices.