Nearly 50 years after it was signed into law, the Department of Education’s life is in danger. First, the Department of Government Efficiency fired nearly half of its workforce, shuttering offices across the United States. Then, on March 20th, our current administration signed an executive order that would bring it to a mere house of cards. Despite these roadblocks, American citizens still have a lot of fight left in us.
What’s in the Executive Order?
This executive order states that the creation of the Department of Education was initiated by former President Jimmy Carter, following endorsement by a national teachers’ union. The White House states that taxpayers pay $60 billion annually on federal school funding. The executive order goes on to discuss how the Department of Education does not educate anyone, yet maintains a public relations office estimated to cost more than $10 million per year.
🇺🇸President Trump Signs Executive Order to Eliminate the Department of Education
"Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them." –President Trump pic.twitter.com/aiyZs9TDC9
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 20, 2025
There are references made to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly referred to as the nation’s report card, and how this means that the “Federal education bureaucracy is not working.” Furthermore, it suggests that the student loan debt portfolio is mismanaged by such a small number of employees, comparing it to Wells Fargo and its size. In closing, the order says that the ED’s “main functions can, and should, be returned to the States.”
State of New York v. Linda McMahon
A consolidated lawsuit has been filed by Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts, the American Federation of Teachers, and other education groups, as well as a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general. In the injunction, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun of Massachusetts wrote, “The record abundantly reveals that Defendants’ true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department without an authorizing statute.”
Joun points out that the defendants insist that their legislative goals of shutting down the department and administrative goals of improving efficiency are distinct. This is hard to believe, as we see that the dismantling has already reduced the ED to a rickety shell of what it once was.
He has ruled that the plaintiffs “have provided an in-depth look into how the massive reduction in staff has made it effectively impossible for the Department to carry out its statutorily mandated functions,” ordering the department to reinstate employees who were fired after the mandate. The lawsuit also orders a halt to the transferring of student loans and special needs programs to other federal agencies.
What the Plaintiffs Are Saying
Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, praised the ruling, saying, “This decision is a first step to reverse this war on knowledge and the undermining of broad-based opportunity.”
Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, was quoted as saying, “No one’s lives are being made better by this administration’s attempted dismantling of the Department of Education.”
ICYMI: A federal court recognized what we’ve long known – President Trump's attempts to radically restructure and dismantle the federal government w/o Congress are simply unlawful.
We secured an order immediately pausing these efforts at 20+ agencies while our case continues in… pic.twitter.com/fM7gOMSZA0
— Democracy Forward (@DemocracyFwd) May 27, 2025
Dr. Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, among the group of educators to join the lawsuit, praised the ruling as a victory for higher education, saying, “Eliminating the ED would hurt everyday Americans.”
"Eliminating the ED would hurt everyday Americans, severely limit access to education, eviscerate funding for HBCUs and TCUs while benefiting partisan politicians and private corporations looking to extract profit from our nation's higher education system." – Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
— AAUP (@aaup.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 1:13 PM
On the Defendants’ Side
Despite a lack of evidence that the layoffs have made the ED more efficient, Linda McMahon says, “Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”
Our goal is clear: make education better, fairer, and more accountable by ending federal overreach and empowering families, schools, and states who best know the needs of their students. pic.twitter.com/g8VJaNFQAA
— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) May 21, 2025
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications for the Education Department, Madison Biedermann, has since criticized the judge, stating, “The Senate-confirmed Secretary of Education clearly [has] the authority to make decisions about agency reorganization efforts, not an unelected Judge with a political axe to grind.”
Individuals Impacted by the Executive Order
More than 1,300 employees were fired in March after the current administration directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.” Combined with 600 additional employees who decided to resign or retire, that left only 2,180 staffers remaining—only half of the department’s original size.
Kishia Kegler, whose official separation starts in June, said, “Students and families need the services that the Department of Education provides. It’s been broken since this unlawful takeover and dismantling began. I’m still committed to this work.”
“[The Office of Federal Student Aid] lost entire divisions within the technology office, including product management and technology operations,” an anonymous ED employee said. “There’s now no one here to oversee the system that ingests IRS data or the entire data center that hosts the FAFSA. The team is scrambling to assign other people, but the expertise isn’t immediately replaceable.”
The Department of Education is also responsible for distributing grants and federal funding to the nation’s schools. Programs such as GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) rely on these funds to help low-income students. Joshua Sparks is one such student. “There’s almost an unofficial playbook about how to make it through college financially, academically — all these things,” said Sparks. “And without those resources, I had no idea about how to make that happen.”
What Can We Do?
While the court’s injunction has temporarily stopped the current administration’s efforts to dismantle the ED, their stated commitment to reduce the size and scope of the department is clear. Only an act of Congress can shut down the Education Department, and they are urging faithful lawmakers to take the steps to eliminate it permanently. Ultimately, the future of the ED rests with Congress, and voters are encouraged to contact their member of Congress and urge them to reject any bill that would eliminate the Department of Education.
For more on education reform, check out These Lawmakers Want to Deprive ALL Children of Education Opportunities. We Need to Stop Them.
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