On March 11th, U.S. Department of Education (ED) Secretary Linda McMahon announced a reduction of force (RIF) that affects half of the Department’s workforce, moving from 4,133 workers to 2,183. Those impacted will be placed on administrative leave beginning on March 21st. Significant cuts have been made to most of ED’s offices, including staff who oversee student loan and lending and/or who provide legal or technical support throughout ED. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) was directly impacted as regional offices in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco were permanently closed. Challenging the legality of the move, the National Center for Youth Law and parents led by COPAA have filed a class action lawsuit claiming that decimating OCR will leave it unable to address issues of discrimination at school which is unlawful under the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment. Also, 21 Attorneys General (AG) joined in a lawsuit arguing that the Administration cannot dismantle Congressionally created departments, and that the ED cannot adequately perform statutory requirements with drastic reduction in workforce; and this week, Sens. Murray (D-WA) and Baldwin (D-WI) and Rep. DeLauro – leading Democratic appropriators wrote to Secretary McMahon and the acting director of Institute of Education Sciences about the RIF and their ability to implement the laws, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.