US Department of Education plans to terminate lease for Boston office
Amid plans to slash more than 1,300 jobs from the U.S. Department of Education, a Boston office is also on the chopping block.The department is terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, said Rachel Oglesby, the department’s chief of staff. She said the changes would not affect the agency’s Office for Civil Rights or its functions mandated by Congress, such as the distribution of federal aid to schools.In Boston, the DOE’s office is in Post Office Square. Employees received an email Tuesday telling them the Washington headquarters and regional offices would be closed Wednesday, with access forbidden, before reopening Thursday. The only reason given for the closures was unspecified “security reasons.”President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to close the department, saying it had been overtaken by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.”Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey warned that dissolving the department would set back schools, students and families across the state.”It’s not fun and games. People will get hurt. And that’s why people need to speak up,” Healey said.In 2024, Massachusetts received $720 million in federal education funds for public school programs. The state also receives more than $2 billion a year to help fund programs for students with disabilities, those who are in rural and low-income communities and ensures all students have equal access to public and higher education.Trump has said he wants to return all control of schools to states and officials have suggested other agencies could take over the Education Department’s major responsibilities once it’s dismantled.But the question remains about what could happen with a more lofty part of its mission — promoting equal access for students in an American education system that is fundamentally unequal.Without the department, advocates worry the federal government would not look out in the same way for poor students, those still learning English, disabled students and racial and ethnic minorities.The equity goal of the Education Department, which was founded in 1980, emerged partly from the anti-poverty and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
BOSTON —Amid plans to slash more than 1,300 jobs from the U.S. Department of Education, a Boston office is also on the chopping block.
The department is terminating leases on buildings in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Cleveland, said Rachel Oglesby, the department’s chief of staff. She said the changes would not affect the agency’s Office for Civil Rights or its functions mandated by Congress, such as the distribution of federal aid to schools.
In Boston, the DOE’s office is in Post Office Square.
Employees received an email Tuesday telling them the Washington headquarters and regional offices would be closed Wednesday, with access forbidden, before reopening Thursday. The only reason given for the closures was unspecified “security reasons.”
President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to close the department, saying it had been overtaken by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey warned that dissolving the department would set back schools, students and families across the state.
“It’s not fun and games. People will get hurt. And that’s why people need to speak up,” Healey said.
In 2024, Massachusetts received $720 million in federal education funds for public school programs. The state also receives more than $2 billion a year to help fund programs for students with disabilities, those who are in rural and low-income communities and ensures all students have equal access to public and higher education.
Trump has said he wants to return all control of schools to states and officials have suggested other agencies could take over the Education Department’s major responsibilities once it’s dismantled.
But the question remains about what could happen with a more lofty part of its mission — promoting equal access for students in an American education system that is fundamentally unequal.
Without the department, advocates worry the federal government would not look out in the same way for poor students, those still learning English, disabled students and racial and ethnic minorities.
The equity goal of the Education Department, which was founded in 1980, emerged partly from the anti-poverty and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
