20 states and Washington, D.C. filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday over cutting down more than 1,315 Education Bureau employees.
California, New York and several other states participated. Litigation To the department, President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced their decision on Tuesday to cut department staff by almost 50%. The lawsuit says the state will suffer “huge damage” for the cuts.
“The Ministry of Education is essential. Plaintiffs states rely on the department for an extraordinary variety of programs,” the lawsuit reads. “This is huge [reduction in force] RIF is not supported by actual inferences or specific decisions regarding how the department would eliminate alleged waste. Rather, the RIF is part of President Trump and Secretary McMahon’s opposition to the existence of the Department of Education. ”
A senior official on Tuesday told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it would not affect the reduction in the department’s ability to provide its critical services, including providing student assistance and resources to students with disabilities.
President Donald Trump’s candidate for Education Secretary, Linda McMahon testified at a confirmation hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Darksen Senate office building on February 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Tuesday’s announcement, McMahon explained The move is the first step to completely diminishing the sector, the idea that came to light even before the president won the November election. Trump has expressed the need for major educational reforms in light of recent data showing around 40% of fourth-grade students, indicating that a third of eighth graders failed to reach the national assessment of the Reading Assessment Benchmark for Educational Progress in 2024.
Efforts to abolish the department are also driven by increasingly biased programs and initiatives that have worked to settle in schools. The Department of Education under the Biden administration has been used to promote radical ideology, with millions of taxpayer funds focusing on topics such as “LGBTQ inclusion” and “anti-racism and anti-attack.”
Trump is already working to dismantle divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the department and other federal agencies, wipe out hundreds of documents outlining DEI practices, disband several related teams, staff them on administrative leave, and stop DEI training. (Related: Biden-appointed judge blocks education department from terminating DEI teacher grants)
The Ministry of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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