The Education Department's efforts to fire staff cost over $28 million, watchdog says
Source: NPR
February 2, 2026 5:00 AM ET
A new report from a government watchdog suggests the Trump administration's efforts to fire staff at the U.S. Department of Education cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
The report, from the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), focuses on the department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which investigates complaints of discrimination in schools based on students' sex, race, national origin, disability and more.
In March, the administration attempted to fire more than half of OCR's civil rights attorneys and staff. At the time, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the cuts reflected the department's commitment to "efficiency" and "accountability." But, when that reduction-in-force (RIF) was blocked by the courts and the Education Department was forced to retain and continue paying these staff, the department prohibited them from returning to work.
For nearly nine months, from March 21 to mid-December, "there were 247 people on administrative leave from OCR who were being paid while not being allowed to work," says Jackie Nowicki, lead investigator of K-12 issues at GAO, "and that decision came with a cost."
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/02/nx-s1-5690188/cost-trump-layoffs-civil-rights-complaints-department-education-gao
Link to GAO REPORT page - Department of Education: Full Costs and Savings Estimate Needed for Reduction-in-Force and Restructuring of the Office for Civil Rights
Link to REPORT (PDF) - https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-26-108320.pdf