The country’s largest teachers’ union and progressive organizations have filed legal challenges to the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Education Association, along with other advocacy groups and the parents of public school students, filed the complaint on Monday.
“Defendants’ steps since January 20, 2025, constitute a de facto dismantling of the Department by executive fiat,” argues the complaint, according to a Monday announcement from NEA.
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“But the Constitution gives power over ‘the establishment of offices [and] the determination of their functions and jurisdiction’ to Congress — not to the President or any officer working under him.”
“America’s educators and parents won’t be silent as Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and [Education Secretary] Linda McMahon try to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires,” NEA President Becky Pringle said in a statement.
“Gutting the Department of Education will hurt all students by sending class sizes soaring, cutting job training programs, making higher education more out of reach, taking away special education services for students with disabilities, and gutting student civil rights protections,” stated Pringle.
“Parents, educators, and community leaders know this will widen the gaps in education, which is why we will do everything in our power to protect our students and their futures.”
Another complaint was filed on Monday by the American Federation of Teachers alongside other public school districts, reports The Hill.
Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications for the Department of Education, said in a statement that the process of “sunsetting” the federal department was being done in a proper and lawful manner.
“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,” Biedermann was quoted as saying.
Biedermann alleged that those suing the administration are “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 continued.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has looked to downsize or completely abolish the Department of Education, arguing in part that the entity has failed to improve education nationwide.
Last week, Trump issued an executive order calling for the closure of the department, saying that such a move “would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them.”
“Today, American reading and math scores are near historical lows. This year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math. The Federal education bureaucracy is not working,” read the order.
“Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support — has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.”
The order also stated that the department manages over $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, making the federal student aid program “roughly the size of one of the Nation’s largest banks.”
“The Department of Education is not a bank, and it must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students,” the order states.
Critics argue that dismantling the department will harm millions of children who rely on federal funding for their education, and such an effort violates the separation of powers because the elimination of the Education Department can only come via an act of Congress.
The Department of Education was created by the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979. The agency spent more than $268 billion in 2024, comprising 4% of federal spending.
“This is a dark day for the millions of American children who depend on federal funding for a quality education, including those in poor and rural communities with parents who voted for Trump,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson in a statement last week.
“Don’t be fooled, Trump doesn’t have your back, he only cares about the billionaire class who will profit from the privatization of essential services, including education. As recent polls indicate, Trump’s actions are far out of line with the American people.”
