Corey Turner

If staff worry a state has fallen out of compliance, they step in.

They even have customer service reps who answer calls directly from parents and families.

I spoke with six staffers who received RIF notices.

They told me nearly the entire staff had been laid off Friday, except for a few top executives and support staff.

One said, "...this is decimating the office responsible for safeguarding the rights of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities."

The Education Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Corey Turner, NPR News.

If you email furloughed workers at the Education Department, you're likely to get the same out-of-office response.

It says, Thank you for contacting me.

Unfortunately, Democrat senators are blocking passage of H.R.

5371 in the Senate, which has led to a lapse in appropriations.

Multiple employees confirmed to NPR that though this message was written in the first person and sent from their email, they did not write it and were not told it would replace whatever message they had written.

The partisan message may also be at odds with the Hatch Act, a law that limits political speech by federal employees.

A request for comment to the department's press office was returned with the same message.

Corey Turner, NPR News.

The White House, Senate, and House Republicans have all proposed education department budgets for fiscal year 2026.

The bipartisan Senate plan would largely fund the status quo.

Not so the other two.

The Trump budget would end all funding to help schools teach English language learners and scale back funding for rural schools and things like teacher training.

The House Republican budget would cut $4.7 billion from the pot that directly supports high-poverty schools.