Key Takeaways
- The Trump administration has cut the workforce of the Department of Education by 50 percent since January. The massive staff reductions have eliminated all or nearly all employees in certain offices, rendering them non-functional.
- Dismantling the Department of Education or slashing existing federal funding will have devastating effects on students.
- The National Education Association and a coalition of education, civil rights, and school employee groups filed a lawsuit arguing that the staff cuts left the agency unable to carry out many of its mandatory functions and put student civil rights in jeopardy.
In its effort to gut and ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education (ED), the Trump administration has reduced the agency’s staff by roughly 50 percent since January with the largest cuts of around 1,300 employees coming last week. The massive staff reductions have reached every corner of ED and eliminated all or nearly all employees in certain offices, rendering them non-functional.
Educators, parents, and public-school advocacy groups have spoken out against the administration’s threats, directives, and draconian cuts directed at ED, which put progress on equity in education at risk. At rallies and school walk-ins across the country, these advocates have spoken up in favor of protecting federal supports for the public schools that nearly 90 percent of students attend.
Today, the National Education Association and a coalition of education, civil rights, and school employee groups that includes NAACP and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a lawsuit in federal district court arguing that the staff cuts left the agency unable to carry out many of its mandatory functions and put student civil rights in jeopardy.
“America’s educators and parents won’t be silent as Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Linda McMahon try to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires,” says NEA President Becky Pringle.
“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,” says 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.”
Progress Comes to “a Grinding Halt”
The federal Department of Education was established by Congress in 1979 specifically to supplement states’ efforts to provide a sound education for all students.
While less than 15 percent of total education spending comes from federal sources, those dollars are highly targeted to increase equity in opportunity for potentially marginalized students, including those from low-income families, students with special needs, English language learners, and those in rural areas with fewer local resources to devote to the public school system.
The department also houses an Office of Civil Rights that investigates and helps resolve civil rights violations in schools. The suit states that the administration’s actions have “brought to a grinding halt the Department’s enforcement of federal civil rights laws to protect historically marginalized students.”
The mass layoffs at ED completely closed seven of twelve regional branches of the Office of Civil Rights.
Despite Trump’s rhetoric that the federal Department of Education is “a big con job,” the agency’s achievements say otherwise. Its programs have increased equity in education from pre-kindergarten through college for all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, disability, or socioeconomic status. These are just a few indicators of this progress:
- Between 1980—the year after the Department was formed—and 2020, high school graduation rates for Black students increased from 51 percent to 81 percent. Likewise, high school graduation rates for Hispanic students rose from 45 percent to 83 percent. (Source: National Center for Education Statistics)
- When the Department was established in 1979, only 31 percent of American 25 and older had completed some postsecondary education. (Source: Center for American Progress) By 2022, that figure had doubled to 62 percent. The college attendance gap between White and Black Americans fell from 10 percentage points in 1980 to just 4 percentage points by 2020, while women moved from trailing men in four-year college completion rates by 7 percent to a three-point advantage. (Source: National Education Association)
- In 1970, U.S. schools educated only one in five children with a disability. By 2023, the United States provided more than 8 million students ages 3 through 21 with special education and related services. More than 66 percent of these children were in general education classrooms for at least 80 percent of their school day. (Source: U.S. Department of Education)
A Closer Look: Q&A with NEA General Counsel Alice O’Brien
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Didn’t NEA just file another lawsuit concerning the Department of Education? How is this lawsuit different? NEA, NEA-New Hampshire, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), including its New Hampshire and Massachusetts affiliates, filed a lawsuit on March 5 in response to the Trump administration’s threat to revoke federal funding for schools with programs and curricula meant to increase equity and inclusion. The "Dear Colleague" letter issued by Trump’s Department of Education on Feb. 14 imposes unfounded and vague legal restrictions that violate due process and the First Amendment; limit academic freedom; and attempt to dictate what educators can teach and what students are allowed to learn. The lawsuit NEA filed with NAACP on March 24 focuses specifically on the administration’s attempts to skirt Congress and effectively shut down the operations of the Department of Education.
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What relief is this lawsuit seeking? If the lawsuit succeeds what will happen? This latest lawsuit asserts that the administration’s actions to dismantle the Department of Education violate the Constitution, which gives that authority to Congress. We are asking the court to reverse the Trump administration’s unlawful actions and direct the administration to cease attempts to dismantle the agency’s operations now and in the future. If the court finds in our favor, the Department would need to comply with Congressional mandates as to how it is to operate and the programs it must run.
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How are these lawsuits relevant to me and my work educating students? Educators have worked hard to make schools more inclusive environments that challenge and recognize all students and where all students feel safe. The purpose of NEA’s lawsuit challenging the “Dear Colleague” letter is to protect those efforts from the overreach of the administration. The suit also aims to protect school districts, colleges, and universities—and teachers and professors—from impermissible pressure to censure their curriculum, instruction, and scholarship. Reinstating operations at the federal Department of Education supports educators by ensuring that critical research into education progress and practices resumes; teacher development programs continue; civil rights complaints are addressed; and federal funding is delivered to support students from low-income families, those with special needs, and those in rural areas, among many others.
Reckless Cuts Put All Students at Risk
On Thursday, President Trump issued an executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to do everything in her power to wind down the Department of Education. Closing the agency would take an act of Congress. But regardless of whether the agency is closed, federal education spending could be cut to the bone during the federal budget process. In fact, in their budget resolution, Republican leaders in Congress laid out their goal to cut federal education spending by $330 billion over 10 years.
The administration’s plans have so far focused squarely on the destruction of the agency. This past week the President issued an Executive Order directing Secretary McMahon to close the Department. The very next day, the President suggested that major Department programs—including college student loans and, as he put it, programs addressing “special needs” or “anything rather complex”—might be transferred to other agencies. If that were to occur there is no clarity on how critical funding like Title I and IDEA would continue to flow to public schools or what accountability measures would be in place concerning how districts spend the funding.
What is clear is that dismantling the Department of Education or slashing existing federal funding will have devastating effects on students:
- 7.5 million students with disabilities and their families will lose the support they need at school and at home. Changes to the enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act would endanger accountability and could eliminate IEPs that students and families depend on.
- 26 million students — especially those living in low-income homes — will lose vital education programs that help them reach their full potential funded through Title I.
- Nearly 420,000 teacher and support staff jobs will be lost, meaning larger class sizes and less one-on-one attention that students deserve.
- 12 million students across the country will lose access to career and technical education programs necessary to prepare them for the jobs of the future
- Fewer options and opportunities for 10 million students and their families who rely on Pell Grants and federal student loans for college.
Find out how cuts to critical federal funding would impact schools in your state.
