Disability Scoop

A judge indefinitely blocked the U.S. Department of Education from laying off nearly every staffer in its special education office, but advocates say concerns about the future of the program remain. At a hearing this week, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California barred federal agencies, including the Education Department, from firing workers during the government shutdown. The decision comes more than two weeks after the Education Department laid off 121 employees in its Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, leaving no more than a handful of staff in the agency’s Office of Special Education Programs, which administers funding and oversees implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Unions representing many affected workers sued over the job cuts. In moving to extend a temporary pause issued earlier this month, Illston said she expects to find that the government’s actions to authorize so-called reductions in force, or RIFs, during the shutdown are “unlawful.” “I believe that I will find that their actions are arbitrary and capricious as shown by the haphazard way in which the RIFs have rolled out, and they are intended for the purpose of political retribution,” Illston said. Illston told the Trump administration not to implement RIF notices issued since the government shutdown began earlier this month and not to issue any new ones. Disability advocates welcomed the decision to halt the layoffs, but cautioned that the situation remains fraught. “We are thankful for the role the courts are playing in keeping this horrific decimation from going forward,” said Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, or COPAA, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of students with disabilities and their families. “We will not relent or be relieved until it’s permanently behind us. The threat remains high for students with disabilities and their families.”