Educators and Unions Unite to Challenge Trump Attempt to Dismantle Department of Ed

Update 5/23/25: On May 22, district court in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction halting the Trump administration’s unlawful effort to dismantle the Department of Education.  

The court definitively rejected the administration's claim that it was not trying to eliminate the department but rather was seeking to improve “efficiency” and “accountability," saying that the “defendants’ true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department without an authorizing statute. . . . A department without enough employees to perform statutorily mandated functions is not a department at all. This court cannot be asked to cover its eyes while the Department’s employees are continuously fired and units are transferred out until the Department becomes a shell of itself.”

The court also highlighted the impact of the cuts on students, educational institutions, and unions. For example, the court found that “higher education is also likely to become more expensive for students” as the staffing cuts “will put federal funding for Pell grants, work-study programs and subsidized loans at risk, reducing the pool of students able to attend college and posing an existential threat to many state university systems such as those intended to serve first generation college students.”

The court found that the administration had violated two clauses of the US Constitution, and that its actions were beyond its authority as well as arbitrary and capricious. Therefore, the court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the department to reinstate staff and resume operations disrupted by the cuts.

Original news story 3/24/25: Today, a coalition including educators, school districts, and unions filed a legal action against the Trump administration to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education and mass firings that will decimate the crucial services the department provides to every American. The Department of Education serves students, teachers, parents, and communities across the country. This lawsuit is the first filed since President Trump’s executive order attempting to shutter the department.

The complaint was filed by Democracy Forward in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts on behalf of the AAUP, Easthampton School District, Somerville Public School Committee, AFT-Massachusetts, the national AFT, AFSCME Council 93, and the Service Employees International Union.

“Today, we defend all people who depend on the Department of Education to ensure public schools are safe, accessible, and welcoming, and that education is available to all people in this nation, not just a few,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward: “This country needs to be focused on how to improve education and opportunities for all and how to support those who both give and receive education with safe, effective, accessible, and quality schools and opportunities. Yet, instead of doing that, Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to our nation’s best values and our chance at a better future. We are honored to represent students, educators, schools, and communities across the nation in court to stop this abuse of power.”

From distributing funds to help schools work with students with disabilities to providing support and assistance to parents and families, protecting students’ civil rights, and making sure higher education is affordable for deserving students, civil servants at the Department of Education are essential to the success of students. Mass firings of these hardworking people planned by the Trump administration will harm students and schools.

“The department has played a crucial role in the pathway to higher education for millions of Americans by providing and administering student loans, grants, and work-study programs,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP: “Without it, access to education for working-class Americans will decrease. Funding for college education will be stripped away, programs for students with disabilities and students living in poverty will be eviscerated, and enforcement of civil rights laws against race- or sex-based discrimination in higher education will disappear.”

The dismantling of the department has begun via mass layoffs of at least half of the entire department. Prior to January 20, 2025, the department employed 4,133 employees. After the Trump administration’s recent actions, just 2,183 will remain.

In addition to the layoffs, the president’s executive order and other administration statements have described the intent to close the department and move department programs and offices such as the Office for Special Education Programs and Federal Student Aid to different federal agencies with no relevant expertise or necessary resources.

In addition to the harm the mass firings will cause, the case filed today raises important constitutional issues. For the past forty-six years, Congress has consistently appropriated funds for the department to provide services to students, parents, schools, states, colleges, and more, and has repeatedly passed laws requiring the department to perform a host of functions.

For more information, please visit democracyforward.org.