The federal government shutdown and administration staffing decisions have drastically reduced the U.S. Department of Education’s capacity, leaving enforcement of civil-rights and special-education mandates at risk, officials warn. The Education secretary publicly downplayed the effects even as filings and reporting show additional rounds of layoffs and proposed cuts to core teams. Critics and observers say cuts impede student services, slow program management and complicate implementation of federal initiatives; defenders frame reductions as scaling back bureaucracy. The dispute has produced both legal pushback and sector concern about long-term regulatory and service gaps.