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Even before massive staff cuts at the Department of Education, it could take years for officials to process a request under the Freedom of Information Act. 

But now, some offices that handled the hundreds of inquiries that pour in each month 鈥� from parents, reporters and watchdog groups 鈥� have either been eliminated or have no remaining employees, according to a by the agency鈥檚 inspector general.

A FOIA group within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, for example, had eight employees before President Donald Trump took charge in January 2025. After staff reductions, none remained, the report showed. 

Those cuts have further jammed an already clogged system. A review by 社区黑料 of publicly available shows that out of the more than 4,900 requests the Education Department has received since February 2025, only 3% have been granted in full or in part as of last week. The department doesn鈥檛 carry the largest backlog of requests, according to . But its own annual , released earlier this year, said it was unable to reduce a backlog that makes up over 86% of pending requests.聽

Officials blamed their lack of responsiveness on an increase in requests, the department鈥檚 downsizing and the 43-day government shutdown last year. Experts, including a former FOIA official, say the administration鈥檚 push to eliminate the department has especially hampered the public鈥檚 ability to understand the inner workings of the agency.

鈥淭he people who remain at the Department of Education are either not subject matter experts in the relevant issue or they’re massively overworked trying desperately to do the jobs of all of their departed coworkers,鈥� said Jill Siegelbaum, who spent 15 years as the agency鈥檚 senior FOIA attorney.聽

With the department offloading key offices to other agencies, hunting down records could become even more difficult, she said. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who will take responsibility for special education, has also .

鈥淣o one is going to have any idea what agency has which responsive records,鈥� said Siegelbaum, now a partner with Sligo Law Group. 鈥淎ll of this adds up to a nightmare for FOIA requesters.鈥�

Those include parents whose children aren鈥檛 receiving the services they鈥檙e entitled to, news outlets covering fast-moving stories in their local schools and student loan borrowers trying to make sense of what they owe after all the changes to in recent years.

The requests frequently become .

In one example, a reporter from the New Bedford Light in Massachusetts asked for civil rights data from the local school district in 2021. The request is still pending, but the reporter has since moved on, according to the outlet鈥檚 executive editor.

In early 2023, Callie Oettinger, a special education advocate in Virginia, requested documents from the Office for Civil Rights related to its oversight of Fairfax County Public Schools during the pandemic. After an OCR investigation, to make up for the services students with disabilities didn鈥檛 receive during school closures. 

Oettinger wanted to ensure OCR was holding the district accountable, but two years later, she hasn鈥檛 received a response. She recently talked to a mom who is still trying to get services for her child as part of that agreement. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e six years past COVID,鈥� she said. 鈥淜ids needed help years ago.鈥� 

In March 2025, 社区黑料 asked for submissions to the department鈥檚 short-lived tip line for examples of diversity, equity and inclusion activity in public schools. The department had to shut down the portal as the result of litigation, but the request is still pending. In all, 社区黑料 has submitted 20 requests since the current administration took office. Seventeen have not been processed and three cases were closed because they were duplicates. A separate request to the Office of Inspector General was fulfilled within four weeks. 

FOIA wasn鈥檛 meant for 鈥渉istorical purposes,鈥� said Jon Maier, senior litigation counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 鈥淚t’s a public disclosure statute that’s designed to get information into the hands of the American public.鈥� 

The left-leaning watchdog group sued seeking records from the Department of Government Efficiency, which oversaw widespread layoffs and cancelled contracts. Requesters can sue if they haven鈥檛 received a response in 20-30 days. The department鈥檚 current wait time for simple requests , but many take much longer.

鈥淭hat these preposterous delays are acceptable goes directly against the purpose of FOIA,鈥� Maier said. The backlog is only likely to grow. 鈥淲hen the government isn’t telling you what it’s doing there will only be more FOIA requests.鈥�

鈥業gnoring FOIA officers鈥�

In addition to tallying the staff cuts, the inspector general鈥檚 office hoped to evaluate the agency鈥檚 ability to process requests. But the department refused to turn over all the information its internal watchdog requested and declined to 鈥減ermit unrestricted access to its staff,鈥� said Catherine Grant, a spokeswoman for that office. 鈥淲e were unable to make definitive determinations in several areas, including major activities,鈥� like FOIA requests.

In the largest share of open cases, roughly 41% of them, a FOIA officer has sent the request to the office that is likely to have the records, but is still waiting, often months later, for a response.

Lauren Harper, an expert on government secrecy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, wasn鈥檛 surprised. 

If the department is 鈥渟tonewalling the inspector general鈥檚 office, it’s an extremely safe bet that they’re absolutely ignoring FOIA officers who are asking for information,鈥� she said. 

The logs also show:

• Since February 2025, 37% of FOIA requests have been closed, but the majority of those were either withdrawn or were invalid requests to begin with. 

• During the current Trump administration鈥檚 first 16 months in office, the department received an average of 295 requests per month. During that same window under President Joe Biden, from February 2021 through May 2022, the department received an average of 185 requests a month. 

• Many requests submitted during the Biden administration and even Trump鈥檚 first term still haven鈥檛 been processed. For fiscal year 2023, 23% are stuck in that 鈥渞equest for docs sent鈥� category. 

鈥楩ind funding elsewhere鈥�

Problems with the federal government鈥檚 FOIA system are longstanding. The law, which turned 60 on July 4, has always been 鈥渦nderfunded,鈥� Siegelbaum said.聽

鈥淐ongress doesn’t appropriate funding for FOIA, so you have to find funding elsewhere,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes it has to struggle to get attention, to get the appropriate resources, both in terms of money and staff at the Department of Education.”

Comparing the handling of FOIA requests from one administration to the next isn鈥檛 a simple math problem. Each new team inherits requests that were still pending when the department changed hands. Clearing out the backlog was a priority for Mitchell Zais, former deputy education secretary during Trump鈥檚 first term.

鈥淎s I recall, we were able to hire some temporary staff,鈥� he said in an email. 鈥淎s a consequence, we made significant progress, but not as much as I would have liked.鈥�

In 2024, the conservative Defense of Freedom Institute, where Zais is a board member, analyzed the department鈥檚 FOIA logs, concluding that the response rate was higher during the first three years of Trump鈥檚 first term than during the same period under Biden, 67% to 48%. 

The analysis also showed that during Zais鈥� tenure, the department was quicker to respond to liberal groups it disagreed with, like American Oversight and the Center for American Progress, than the Biden administration was to conservative advocates and think tanks, including Parents Defending Education and the America First Policy Institute.

Zais suggested that while he was there, some requests 鈥渨ere made with an eye toward harassing the department 鈥� rather than generally seeking information that could be legitimately used for any positive purpose.鈥�

But Harper, at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, that whether or liberal groups are flooding the system, the onus is on the government to respond in a more timely manner. The current administration, she said, has been especially hostile toward releasing information, and staff working on FOIA requests have been among the first to go at agencies the administration is 鈥渋nterested in eliminating.鈥�

Last year, the administration put in the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave before shutting down the agency entirely. Trump has the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which for releasing a memo about .

In addition to mass firings at the Education Department, active litigation contributes to the growing backlog of requests, officials said. According to its FOIA report, the agency is facing 57 FOIA-related lawsuits, which have 鈥渘egatively impacted the department鈥檚 ability to keep pace with other requests.鈥� Last week, civil rights groups filed two more FOIA-related lawsuits, one about the department鈥檚 failure to release data on cases and another seeking .

ProPublica in February for failing to release information including civil rights investigations. In April, the to the complaint, acknowledged it received the requests and said its search for records is 鈥渙ngoing.鈥�

鈥楶roactively鈥� posting records

Harper gave the department credit for posting up-to-date FOIA logs, something other agencies haven鈥檛 always done. The department, however, between December 2023 and mid-2025.

Officials reported that they鈥檝e taken actions to improve turnaround times on requests, like training staff across the agency and 鈥減roactively鈥� posting frequently requested records. These include student loan data and a list of involving accusations of antisemitism.

As McMahon moves forward with splitting up the department, spokeswoman Savannah Newhouse said the agency is 鈥渃omplying with all applicable laws and looks forward to restoring excellence in American education through these critical partnerships.鈥�

, agencies that are 鈥渞eorganizing, terminating or transferring offices or functions鈥� have to work with the National Archives and Records Administration and the receiving agency to ensure records don鈥檛 get lost in the process. 

鈥淭his all requires a lot of communication,鈥� Harper said. She emphasized that the National Archives hasn鈥檛 been spared from or . 鈥淩estructuring has not happened on the scale that it’s happening now. It’s truly a perfect storm.鈥�

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