Blue states push back on Education Department transfer, closure plans; Trump, McMahon steadfast

A coalition of attorneys general from 20 blue states is suing the U.S. Department of Education in an attempt to block its plan to transfer responsibility for many of its programs to other federal agencies.

The states, including New York, California and Illinois, have expanded their lawsuit filed in March over sweeping staff cuts initiated by the Trump administration, which has pledged to eliminate the department.

The Education Department was established in 1979 in what has been described as a concession from then-President Jimmy Carter to teachers’ unions. Student performance has infamously declined since then, while spending has risen significantly – leading many to lose confidence in public schools and in the department’s ability to improve them.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced last month that programs including K-12 and higher education would be transferred to the Department of Labor, along with several smaller programs moving to other agencies. 

Labor now oversees more than $20 billion in annual school grants, Education Week reported, including Title I funding for low-income students in about 95% of districts. 

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts and also signed by the attorney general for the District of Columbia, alleges federal law requires the department to carry out its own programs. 

Other plaintiffs include two Massachusetts school districts, teachers’ union affiliates, school employees, higher education workers, professors and a disabilities advocacy group, Education Week reported. 

Trump and McMahon “have set about systematically dismantling the Department: staff, programs, funds,” the lawsuit claims, saying they “have fired more than fifty percent of the Department’s employees, moved key Department functions and programs to other government agencies, and pledged billions of the Department’s funds to those agencies” – actions it calls “unlawful.” 

“Defendants’ actions will harm millions of students and their families, school districts, and educators across the nation,” the lawsuit maintains. 

But DOE spokesperson Madi Biedermann said it was “no surprise that blue states and unions care more about preserving the D.C. bureaucracy than about giving parents, students and teachers more control over education and improving the efficient delivery of funds and services.” 

In July, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court’s injunction, allowing the administration to proceed with staffing cuts. 

The department had 4,133 employees when Trump took office in January, which was then reduced to 2,183. Another 465 employees were “marked for termination in October,” the lawsuit states, during the government shutdown. 

McMahon has acknowledged closing the department would require an act of Congress, since Congress created it. But she has argued the transfer agreements – and the lengthy government shutdown – show the department is unnecessary. 

The department maintains oversight of transferred programs for the time being, which would end if it is eliminated. 

The lawsuit attempts to raise fears that families and states will be left unsupported and unprotected if the department closes. Experts, however, have said the DOE’s essential functions – such as civil rights and serving students with disabilities – can be carried out by other agencies.