On June 30, 2026, a coalition of disability and education organizations sued the the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) over its withholding of almost $2B in USDE funds that were appropriated by Congress for education research, data collection, program evaluation, and assistance to states and school The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts districts, alleges that the failure of the USDE’s Institute of Education Sciences and OMB to provide funding for grants and contracts violates the Administrative Procedures Act, the Antideficiency Act and the constitutional separation of powers.

It is the contention of the plaintiffs and many within the education community that the withholding or failure to “apportion” those funds will impact all students, including those with disabilities, as researchers, schools, and families have less access to research-based guidance and information for effective practices. Thus, the plaintiffs are asking the court to ensure that congressionally appropriated funds are made available for spending. The lawsuit also challenges a federal grantmaking process that requires competitive grants to comply with certain Trump administration priorities, including an executive order to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in federal activities and spending, which is in contradiction to the congressionally mandated requirement within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to provide for a student’s inclusion in general education classrooms through providing a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

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On June 24, 2026, a federal court temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) from applying new regulations significantly restricting which graduate degrees count as “professional.”

The designation allows students pursuing such degrees to take out up to $200,000 in federal student loans — double the amount permitted for other graduate programs. Among notable omissions were graduate education programs, a move that advocates said could harm educator pipelines.

The U.S. District Judge ruled that the USDE’s definition of professional degrees, which it released in April 2026, is likely inconsistent with the definition that Congress included when creating the caps last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The judge also said the USDE’s rulemaking process likely violated the Administrative Procedures Act.

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On Thursday, June 25, 2026, Linda McMahon became the first U.S. education secretary to be the target of impeachment proceedings in what is being viewed as a largely symbolic action. Democrats have also introduced articles of impeachment against multiple members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In 2024, the Republican-controlled House impeached Biden Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for what members said was a failure to stop migrants from crossing the border, but the Senate dismissed the two articles against him. In fact, such attempts have rarely succeeded.

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K-12 Dive

As reported by K-12 Dive, a report released on June 22, 2026 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that staffing reductions at the USDE at the beginning of the second Trump administration appear to have impacted units that were performing legal duties. In fact, the staff reduction of at least 1,579 of 3,902 agency employees — or 40% of its overall workforce — between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 31, 2025, resulted in the elimination of several suboffices in 15 of the USDE’s 17 offices. These included some that “appear to have been performing statutory functions or oversight and monitoring functions,” according to the OIG, which is an independent arm of the agency. The downsizing of the USDE also resulted in the termination of 90 grants with funding totaling $504 million. Teacher training and mental health services were most impacted by the grant terminations. In addition, the USDE terminated 129 contracts worth $1.3 billion.

In the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, 14% of the office’s 177 staff at three suboffices were impacted by the March 11, 2025, RIF or by other means. This downsizing resulted in no employees in those OSERS suboffices to coordinate, monitor and oversee activities relating to policy formulation, program planning, regulations, evaluation, and grants and contract scheduling activities.

Also, the OIG report as pointed out that the USDE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had 598 employees at 11 regional offices and 18 suboffices on Jan. 20, 2025. The USDE’s reduction-in-force on March 11, 2025 impacted six regional offices, seven suboffices, and 291 employees. Another 55 OCR employees left through other means between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 31, 2025, which adds up to a total of 346 employees lost. The OIG report also points out that the statutory or oversight functions performed by the 13 impacted OCR regional offices and suboffices that had no employees by March 31, 2025, included conducting complaint investigations and compliance reviews of preschool, elementary and secondary institutions, colleges and other entities.

While the 83-page report does not offer recommendations, it does question the USDE’s move to withhold some of the documents and interviews requested by OIG due to ongoing litigation challenging the downsizing efforts. As stated in the OIG report summary, “Although the Department has repeatedly cited concerns about ongoing judicial proceedings and court orders, it has not explained how granting us access to requested documents and to staff would place it at risk of noncompliance with those proceedings and court orders.”

In the final report, OIG said the USDE provided no “corroborating evidence” that it continued performing certain statutory responsibilities referenced in the report since the March 2025 RIF.

Source: K-12 Dive