Several education groups announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday over its decision to begin the breakdown of the Department of Education.
The National Education Association (NEA) and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are among some of the organizations accusing the department of harming students by eliminating the department and exceeding “the constitutional authority of the executive branch,” according to a press release. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 20 calling on Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education” in an effort to improve the nation’s failing education system and give more power to states and local governments.
“Education is power. By firing half of the workforce at the Department of Education, Trump is not only seeking to dismantle an agency — he is deliberately destroying the pathway many Americans have to a better life,” Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement. “The forceful elimination of thousands of essential workers will harm the most vulnerable in our communities. The NAACP and our partners are equipped with the necessary legal measures to prevent this unlawful attack on our children’s future.”
The lawsuit seeks to halt the administration from eliminating the department.
“The NEA and NAACP have done nothing to advance the educational outcomes of America’s students and the latest NAEP scores prove that,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Instead of playing politics with baseless lawsuits, these groups should ditch the courtroom and work with the Trump administration and states on improving the classroom.”
Trump’s plans to eliminate the department span back before his November victory, expressing the need for drastic action to repair the state of public education. Student test scores have reached some of the lowest levels ever recorded in the U.S., according to a January report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), with one-third of eighth graders failing to reach the NAEP’s reading assessment benchmark in 2024, the largest percentage ever recorded, and 40% of fourth grade students testing below NAEP’s reading proficiency, the largest percentage since 2002.
“While state and local governments are responsible for the vast majority of America’s public education system, Congress created the Department to help bridge longstanding gaps in educational opportunity and provide critical funding and supports to students,” NEA’s press release reads. “The Department fulfills that role by enforcing civil rights laws, supporting students with disabilities, promoting equal educational opportunities, bolstering the educator workforce, and administering the Federal Student Aid programs that place college within reach of working Americans.”
President Trump announced recently that several of the department’s functions, such as managing student loans and overseeing special needs and nutrition programs, would be transferred to other federal agencies.
“Eliminating or effectively shuttering the Department puts at risk the millions of vulnerable students, including those from low-income families, English learners, homeless students, rural students, and others who depend on Department support,” the press release continues. “It also jeopardizes more than 400,000 educator jobs; makes it impossible for the Department to ensure that federal education funding actually is spent as Congress intended; threatens support for 7.5 million students with disabilities; and leaves millions of students vulnerable to discrimination.”
The education department under former President Joe Biden’s watch invested over $100 million on grants to universities meant to train K-12 social workers in critical race theory, social justice and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Another $100,000,000 from the Department of Justice went to projects aimed toward “LGBTQ inclusion” in which “anti-racism and anti-oppression are embedded” in K-12 schools.
The Department of Education on March 11 cut nearly half of its staff, eliminating unnecessary and redundant positions. A senior department official informed the Daily Caller News Foundation at the time that the cuts would not impact any of the department’s essential functions.
The NEA, NAACP, Department of Education and White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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