GAO’s Review of the Department of Education’s OCR Reduction-in-Force
In January 2026, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), led by Jacqueline M. Nowicki (Director), issued a report to Senator Bernard Sanders assessing actions taken from February 2025 through early January 2026 relating to the Department of Education’s planned Reduction-in-Force (RIF) and restructuring of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The context was unusually consequential: Education announced in March 2025 that it would cut its workforce by roughly half and close several offices, and an executive order issued that same month directed the Secretary to facilitate closure of the Department “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law,” framing the RIF as a move toward efficiency and accountability.
GAO’s central finding is not merely that the contemplated workforce reductions were large, but that Education could not demonstrate—through documented analysis—that the OCR RIF would achieve its stated efficiency objectives when all costs and savings are counted. According to court filings cited by GAO, 299 of roughly 575 OCR staff (just over half) received RIF notices in March 2025, and Education closed seven of OCR’s 12 regional offices, shifting caseloads to five remaining offices. The affected staff were placed on paid administrative leave and prohibited from working, while litigation repeatedly altered the agency’s ability to separate employees as planned, producing a stop-start timeline of injunctions, partial reinstatements, and renewed plans to proceed.
Because Education did not provide a precise weekly figure, GAO derived a bounded estimate of the direct salary-and-benefits costs for OCR employees placed on paid leave. Using lower and upper weekly bounds ($750,000 to $999,999), GAO calculated approximately $18–$24 million in costs from March 21 to September 5, 2025, plus $10.5–$14 million from September 8 to December 12, 2025—roughly $28.5–$38 million in total. GAO emphasized that this is only part of the ledger. A complete RIF accounting would typically consider additional cost categories (e.g., severance, unemployment insurance, administrative processing, and grievance/appeal handling) and, on the savings side, reduced future salary/benefit outlays and potential real-property reductions.
The report also situates the restructuring against OCR’s workload. From March 11 to September 23, 2025, OCR received 9,269 discrimination complaints and resolved 7,072; roughly 90 percent of resolved matters were dismissals. GAO’s analysis further indicates OCR’s caseload increased by about 98 cases per week during parts of the period reviewed, raising questions about how capacity constraints and case-processing choices interact when staffing is disrupted.
GAO’s recommendation is straightforward: Education should estimate the full costs and savings associated with the 2025 OCR RIF and restructuring and document the analysis. Education did not concur, arguing the rescission of OCR RIF notices and return of employees rendered the issue moot; GAO disagreed, noting that guidance required documentation before implementation and that a complete, time-bounded accounting would inform any future workforce actions.
Disclaimer: This post summarizes a GAO report for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice or a definitive statement of policy. Readers should consult the underlying GAO publication and, where appropriate, qualified counsel or subject-matter experts before acting on any information discussed.