I weep for the persons of the United States of America.
The prolonged government shutdown is helping the Trump administration advance its goal of closing the Education Department — a longtime conservative aim that congressional Republicans have failed to act on. The Education Department is in the process of laying off an additional 465 people, cutting deeply into multiple offices. That includes federal officials who oversee special education programs and another round of slashing at the Office for Civil Rights. These staff reductions were temporarily frozen by a federal judge Wednesday. But they follow a series of moves that have steadily eroded the agency. This year a string of grant programs have been eliminated, hobbled or delayed. Contracts have been canceled. And officials have begun work to move pieces of the agency elsewhere in what could be a template to transfer out other parts of the department.
If allowed to go into effect, the layoffs would decimate the Office for Civil Rights, which was cut in half earlier this year, and gut offices that oversee every major K-12 program. That includes the $15 billion Individuals with Disabilities Education Act program for students with disabilities and the $18 billion Title I program, which aids high-poverty schools. Smaller programs such as one that supports charter schools were also hit.
Jesus Wept*
From Laura Meckler and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Trump moves closer to eliminating Education Department amid shutdown, The Washington Post, 18 October 2025.
Source Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/10/18/trump-education-department-cuts/
* The reference “Jesus wept” comes from the Bible, specifically John 11:35, which is famously the shortest verse in the King James Version of the Bible. The verse recounts Jesus crying after the death of his friend Lazarus, even though he knew he was going to raise him from the dead. This act is significant because it highlights Jesus’s humanity and compassion, showing that he shared in human sorrow and grief.
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Neville Buch
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