--- title: This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk | TIME description: Fewer teachers. Incomplete data. Delays in addressing problems and getting financial aid information. Those are just some of the impacts Jason Cottrell, who worked as a data collector at the Department of Education for nine and a half years before being laid off along with more than a thousand other agency employees, warns the Trump Administration’s massive cuts to the department’s funding and workforce could have on the country’s education system. canonical: https://time.com/video/QFqj7C4X/ og:title: This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk og:description: Fewer teachers. Incomplete data. Delays in addressing problems and getting financial aid information. Those are just some of the impacts Jason Cottrell, who worked as a data collector at the Department of Education for nine and a half years before being laid off along with more than a thousand other agency employees, warns the Trump Administration’s massive cuts to the department’s funding and workforce could have on the country’s education system. og:url: https://time.com/video/QFqj7C4X/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QFqj7C4X/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk twitter:description: Fewer teachers. Incomplete data. Delays in addressing problems and getting financial aid information. Those are just some of the impacts Jason Cottrell, who worked as a data collector at the Department of Education for nine and a half years before being laid off along with more than a thousand other agency employees, warns the Trump Administration’s massive cuts to the department’s funding and workforce could have on the country’s education system. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QFqj7C4X/poster.jpg?width=720 --- * Politics # This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk [Watch (HLS stream): This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QFqj7C4X.m3u8) (4:38)  _Published 2025-07-17. Fewer teachers. Incomplete data. Delays in addressing problems and getting financial aid information. Those are just some of the impacts Jason Cottrell, who worked as a data collector at the Department of Education for nine and a half years before being laid off along with more than a thousand other agency employees, warns the Trump Administration’s massive cuts to the department’s funding and workforce could have on the country’s education system._ --- Jul 18, 2025 6:20 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Lawmakers React as Trump Prepares to Dismantle the Education Department](/video/tiUFhS2c/) ### Lawmakers React as Trump Prepares to Dismantle the Education Department [Democratic Members of Congress are Denied Entry to the Department of Education](/video/LGf2PXPE/) ### Democratic Members of Congress are Denied Entry to the Department of Education [Watch: NYC Fire Department's It Gets Better PSA](/video/x0CLFQP1/) ### Watch: NYC Fire Department's It Gets Better PSA --- ## Transcript We were a little nervous as to to what was actually happening. And then they of course, they appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. And I think a lot of us kind of saw the writing on the wall. On June 27th, when the Casa decision came down, you know, that that was a big that was a really big day as well for this, because I think at that point we kind of knew what this, uh, this court was going to do for, for Donald Trump. And that was that was a rough day for a lot of us. And I, we just kind of were waiting, waiting, waiting. And of course, you know, on Monday the the decision came down that they were going to stay the injunction, um, and essentially allow them to move forward with riffing us. And at that point, I think a lot of folks started to realize, like, what it actually meant. It wasn't just about not going back to work, it was about actually kind of tearing apart the department. And, you know, for us, you know, anybody who was following the case, they were seeing the reports from Rachel Oglesby, the chief of staff. And, you know, it was noted at one point that they were working on the memorandums of understanding between agencies to essentially start shifting duties. And I think a lot of us at that point knew that they were they're serious about actually dismantling the department. And, you know, moving moving resources around and essentially eliminating some of the many of the programs really of of student access and success from the department. Um, that really make a difference in students and families lives. And that was I think that that was the hardest part, I think for me is at that point it's like, okay, well, I knew that at some point this was going to happen, but I didn't really realize, like the the national impact until, you know, you start reading through these documents that they had submitted, um, that essentially were going to eliminate the department with funding being cut, it's going to reduce the number of teachers. It's going to, um, reduce the ability for us to make evidence based change that we need. When parents have concerns, who do they reach out to? um, if there's nobody in those offices, it's going to be the delays and things. And so it's not going to be as easy to call federal student aid to find out what your the status of your Fafsa is. Um, they're cutting contractors. And so what is what is that look like when it comes to, um, processing pieces of work? Um, data collections are going to be very difficult for educators, especially from the post-secondary lens. But, you know, also from the state and local lens, where, um, agencies are trying to report their statistics to the department. If you have a question, you're not going to be able to get an answer right away because there's no staff there. Um, civil rights complaints, I think that. That's what I'm extremely fearful of. Um, you know, when you have family and friends of students with disabilities who may not be able to get in contact with OCR to make complaints, um, that their, their school district are doing things, um, that is harmful. And so you, you really reflect on, on those little pieces. It's going to be rough. Um, and I think some of these things, they're going to feel immediately. But I also think that there are a lot of things that they're not going to experience until 2 or 3 years from now. I mean, data collections, for example, at the higher ed level, stuff that you start reporting on this fall won't be finalized for two years typically. And so it's going to be a delay. Um, you know, we're just now seeing some of the the data that are coming out of what happened during those Covid years, the 2020, um, 21 school year, um, the 21, 22 school year. And now that we're three years out, those data are showing up and we can see what those changes were. And so we're not going to know what the impact of these cuts are going to be in a lot of ways until this administration is gone. And how do we rebuild that. And you know, what does fix it 2029 look like? ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Education Department Official Lost His Job. Here’s What He Says Is at Risk","description":"Fewer teachers. Incomplete data. 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