March 26, 2025 Story by: Publisher
This article has been updated to include a press statement from the NAACP.
A group of advocacy organizations and groups invested in schools sued the Trump administration on Monday over the president’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.
The new lawsuit alleges President Trump exceeded his constitutional authority in trying to dismantle the department, as well as violating the Administrative Procedure Act.
“Today, advocacy organizations, representing millions of educators, civil rights champions, school employees, students, and families, filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration’s illegal attempts to dismantle the United States Department of Education,” a press release by the NAACP states. “The plaintiffs include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), public school parents, the National Education Association (NEA), and AFSCME Maryland Council 3, and they are supported by Student Defense and the Education Law Center (ELC). Since taking office, Trump administration officials have taken an escalating series of steps to dismantle the Department, including a series of staff reductions and the termination of $1.5 billion in current contracts and grants for congressionally authorized programs and activities. On March 11, the Secretary instituted a department-wide reduction in force, which, when combined with prior staff reductions, slashes the already lean Department workforce in half.”
Another lawsuit was also filed Monday by the American Federation of Teachers, along with other public school districts and organizations, against the administration over the executive order. The second suit is also asking a judge to halt the order and declare the actions illegal.
“As President Trump and Secretary McMahon have made clear, sunsetting the Department of Education will be done in partnership with Congress and national and state leaders to ensure all statutorily required programs are managed responsibly and where they best serve students and families. To date, no action has been taken to move federally mandated programs out of the Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education continues to deliver on all programs that fall under the agency’s purview,” said Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications for the Department of Education.
“Instead of focusing on the facts and offering helpful solutions to improve student outcomes, the union is once again misleading the American public to keep their stranglehold on the American education bureaucracy. The union is also forcing the Department to waste resources on litigation instead of the programs the union claims to care about and the kids this Administration is fighting for,” she added.
The suits come days after Trump signed an executive order telling Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the federal agency as far as she legally can. The next day, the president said he would be moving student loans to the Small Business Administration and programs for students with disabilities and nutrition programs to the Health and Human Services Department. McMahon has already reduced the department workforce to 50 percent of its original size, leaving the agency with only a little more than 2,000 workers.
“The Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the Department of Education is not only illegal; it inflicts great harm on students, schools, and communities across the country,” said Robert Kim, the Education Law Center’s executive director, another group involved in the lawsuit.
The suits come days after Trump signed an executive order telling Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the federal agency as far as she legally can.
The next day, the president said he would be moving student loans to the Small Business Administration and programs for students with disabilities and nutrition programs to the Health and Human Services Department.
McMahon has already reduced the department workforce to 50 percent of its original size, leaving the agency with only a little more than 2,000 workers.
Source: The Hill
