The Supreme Court will allow Trump to fire federal education workers. How will it affect Minnesota?

The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to fire more than 1,300 workers who administer grants, handle civil rights complaints and certify schools for federal financial aid purposes.

That decision comes as the Trump administration eyes broad reductions in the size of the federal workforce. It also comes on the heels of the administration withholding funding for after-school and summer programming and the passage of the massive tax and spending package earlier this month, which included cuts to student lending.

Here’s what this latest move to scale back federal involvement in education could mean for Minnesotans.

Changes to the Department of Education staff could worsen financial uncertainty that arose after the withholding of federal funds earlier this month left districts and educators unsure of how to manage recently approved school budgets.

Projects that saw their funding frozen included:

According to a news release from when the Department of Education first announced the layoffs, the department will still award grants, but that “all divisions within the Department are impacted by the reduction, with some divisions requiring significant reorganization.”

The Office of English Language Acquisition, which focused on programming for English-language learners, though, was completely eliminated. In 2024, the office awarded over $11 million to Minnesota.

That could pose an additional threat to English as a second language programs that also lost funding earlier this month.

Public school budgets were due July 1.

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the nation’s schools, was particularly hard-hit by cuts, with hundreds of staff laid off and seven regional offices closed.

Among those shuttered was the Chicago regional office, which oversaw complaints out of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. Minnesota will now be served by the Denver office, according to the Department of Education.

The department handled 22,687 complaints in 2024, up 18% from the year before. Complaints ranged from Title IX issues to sex and race discrimination.

The Minnesota State High School League, the nonprofit that oversees high school athletics in the state, has been under investigation by the Office of Civil Rights since February for allegedly violating Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to participate in sports teams “consistent with their gender identity or expression.”

That investigation was “elevated” in June after a softball team that included a transgender player that played in the state tournament.

It’s unclear if the shuttering of the regional office will impact that investigation or any other complaints involving Minnesota schools.

The tax and spending bill placed additional limits on student borrowing and eliminated a popular lending program for graduate students. Staff reductions at the Department of Education could further change how Minnesotans pay for their higher education.

The Federal Student Aid division experienced the largest staff cut, with 326 employees placed on leave.

Those employees had been responsible for operating the Free Application for Student Aid, or FAFSA, as well as running Pell Grant, work-study and direct loan programs.

The staff cuts come after Minnesotans faced computer glitches and delays as the federal government attempted to roll out the “Better FAFSA” last year. Those problems contributed to a drop in FAFSA applications in the state.

The Associated Press reported the FAFSA site went down the day after the layoffs took effect.