The Trump administration has begun dismantling the U.S. Department of Education by laying off about half of the agency’s employees, casting uncertainty over how — or whether — billions of federal dollars for California to help disadvantaged students and those with disabilities will be distributed, how college financial aid and student loans will be managed and how civil rights enforcement will be carried out.
In San Francisco, the regional branch of the department Office for Civil Rights — already backlogged with investigations into school-related discrimination — will be closed, one of the broad effects of the layoffs that advocates say are sending tremors through school systems, including Los Angeles Unified.
“These reckless layoffs will sow chaos and confusion throughout our nation’s public school system,” said Guillermo Mayer, president and chief executive of Public Advocates, a California-based law firm and…
