Last week, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a report titled “Review of U.S. Department of Education Changes in Staffing and Operations.” The report focuses on the reduction in force (RIF) and other staffing actions taken by the Administration from January 20, 2025 – March 31, 2025, including the 58 percent reduction in staff in the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the [approximate] 14 percent reduction in staff in the Office for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). The report notes that the staffing reductions and the elimination of ED suboffices across the Department “appear to have been performing statutory functions or oversight and monitoring functions.” For OCR, OIG notes that employees no longer remain who are responsible for

…conducting complaint investigations and compliance reviews of preschool, elementary and secondary institutions, vocational technical schools, institutions of postsecondary education, vocational rehabilitation agencies and providers under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act…and conducting complaint investigations and compliance reviews of public entities for which the Department serves as the designated agency under the regulations implementing Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The report includes that among the OSERS programs affected are “policy formulation, program planning, evaluation, grants, contracts…” and more. ED OIG also indicated that it was “unable to make definitive determinations” in some areas due to ED’s [non]compliance with requests made during the review. The report does not explore or address the impact of the 14 announced interagency agreements (IAAs) on ED’s statutory responsibilities.