WASHINGTON (AP) — The US education sector, already declining due to cuts by the Trump administration, will see more work halt. Government closure.
The department says many of its core operations will continue to kick down Wednesday. Federal financial aid continues to flow, and student loan payments will continue to be paid. However, investigations into civil rights complaints have stopped and the department will not issue new federal grants. According to the department’s contingency plan, roughly 87% of that workforce will be fraudulent.
Since he took office, President Donald Trump has been calling for the dismantling of the education sector, saying it has been overrun by liberal thinking. The agency’s leaders have planned to break it down into other departments and in July it was announced that the Supreme Court was in the process of Supports massive layoffs It cut the department staff in half.
During the closure, the administration suggests that federal agencies can see more positions being eliminated entirely. In past closures, Farloughed employees were returned when Congress recovered federal funds. This time, the White House Management and Budget Bureau Threatened a massive fire of federal workers.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who appeared before the House Budget Committee in May, suggested that this year’s layoffs had wasted her department. Some staff members were brought back, she said, and authorities found the cuts had become too deep.
“You just hope you cut down on the fat. Sometimes you can cut a little muscle and make it happen when you’re continuing the program and bring people back to do it,” McMahon said. When Trump took office in January, the division had around 4,100 employees. There are currently around 2,500.
We expect what the department is doing and how shutdowns will affect the work.
Federal Student Loans
One of the department’s main roles is managing a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio. Student assistance will have little impact on the short term, according to the faculty’s closure contingency plan. Pell grants and federal loans will continue to be paid, and student loan borrowers must continue to pay their debts.
According to the department, around 9.9 million students have received some form of federal aid and spread to around 5,400 universities. Within the Federal Student Aid office, the department plans to broadcast 632 of its 747 employees during the closure, but did not say either of them. For most student loan issues, borrowers work with loan servicers hired by the department rather than directly with FSA staff.
The department will also continue to process free applications for federal student aid, or Fafsa,This is an important part of how universities and universities provide assistance packages to incoming students. Certain employees involved in creating rules for student loan changes, part of the “one big beautiful bill” passed by Republicans, also meet deadlines set by law.
Money for school
While American schools are primarily funded by state and local money, the education sector serves as a conduit for billions of dollars in federal aid to go to state and local educational institutions. During the closure, the department will suspend new grant activities, suspend school advice and regulatory roles, and subsidize recipients.
But because most federal grants have been made to schools During the summersaid the department is expected to minimize recipients of school districts and other grants. Title I Money will be sent to schools with a high concentration of poor students, and funding for individuals under the Disability Education Act will continue during the closure.
However, not all federal education money arrives ahead of the grade. One example is Impact Aid. This is a program that strengthens school budgets in areas where other activities such as federal land management or military facilities reduce the amount of land taxable and generate district income. These schools will probably see payment disruptions. More than 1,200 districts receive their assistance across all 50 states, according to the national association representing these schools.
If the shutdown continues for more than a week, the department says it will modify its contingency plan to prevent significant disruption to the district.
Civil Rights Survey
Under the closure, the department will suspend investigations of schools and universities regarding alleged civil rights violations.
Since the major layoffs in March, the office has operated under a significantly reduced footprint. The Civil Rights Branch of the department lost about half of its staff. Cutt questioned whether the office could reduce the backlog of complaints from students who claimed to have experienced discrimination based on race, gender and disability circumstances.
The department’s own data shows a decline New complaints from families have been rising in resolution of civil rights lawsuits. During shutdown, pending cases stop working.
___
AP Education Writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.
___
Associated Press Education Compensation receives financial support from several private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP standard For charity, list of ap.org supporters and funded compensation areas.
