A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general sued Thursday to block the Trump administration from gutting the Department of Education, arguing that Congress created the Cabinet-level agency and only Congress may abolish it.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts came two days after Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced that the department’s staff would be cut by about 2,183 employees for a 50% reduction in force.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the staffing cuts “reckless and illegal.”
“Today I am taking action to stop the madness and protect our schools and the students who depend on them,” she said in a Thursday press release.
President Trump campaigned on a promise to eliminate the department, calling it “a big con job,” but the attorneys general accused him of exceeding his authority.
“The Department is an executive agency authorized by Congress, with numerous different laws creating its various programs and funding streams,” said the release. “The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the executive branch does not have the legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle it without an act of Congress.”
The department began operations in 1980 after President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Department of Education Organization Act, a move blasted by critics as a sop by the president to the National Education Association in exchange for its campaign endorsement in the 1976 election.
Eliminating the department has been a goal of Republicans since President Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, but Mr. Trump’s 50% reduction in force represents the most dramatic step in that direction.
Republicans argue that the $268 billion department is inefficient, bloated and unnecessary, given that states and local governments are in charge of building and funding schools, while Democrats counter that the department provides “critical resources.”
“This administration may claim to be stopping waste and fraud, but it is clear that their only mission is to take away the necessary services, resources, and funding that students and their families need,” Ms. James said in a Thursday statement. “Firing half of the Department of Education’s workforce will hurt students throughout New York and the nation, especially low-income students and those with disabilities who rely on federal funding.”
Programs run by the department serve “nearly 18,200 school districts and over 50 million K-12 students attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools,” said the Democrats in a statement.
School districts in New York received $6.17 billion, or $2,438 per student, from the department in Fiscal Year 2024, but Republicans argue that the funding comes with strings, such as requiring schools to adopt racially charged diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The department said Tuesday that it will continue to fulfill its statutory obligations despite the staffing cuts, including student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special-needs students, grantmaking and formula funding, but the Democrats were leery.
“The administration’s layoff is so massive that ED will be incapacitated and unable to perform essential functions,” said the Democratic attorneys general in a press release.
The Democratic attorneys general joining Ms. James represent the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
The department’s reduction in force included 600 employees who voluntarily retired or resigned, and about 1,400 who will be placed on administrative leave starting Friday.
Ms. McMahon said the workforce reductions reflect the department’s “commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”
“I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the Department,” she said in her Tuesday statement. “This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system.”
The Education Department is the third-youngest of the Cabinet-level departments, older only than Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this story.
