Attorney General Neronha joins coalition suing Trump Administration to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education

"The Trump Administration’s unlawful attack on the Department of Education is an attack on children from all walks of life across this country."

From a press release:

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha joined a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration to stop dismantling the United States Department of Education.

On March 11, the Trump Administration announced that the Department of Education would be firing approximately 50 percent of its workforce as part of its goal of a “total shutdown” of the Department. Attorney General Neronha and the coalition filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the targeted destruction of this critical federal agency that ensures tens of millions of students receive a quality education and critical resources.

“The Trump Administration’s unlawful attack on the Department of Education is an attack on children from all walks of life across this country,” said Attorney General Neronha. “Let’s drill down to what this means for our kids. As with almost any organization, the Department of Education will be incapacitated by the sudden layoffs of half of its workforce, not to mention the Administration’s ultimate goal of eliminating the Department.

“These massive layoffs will severely undermine the Department’s ability to perform basic functions upon which American families rely. Kids with special needs who require speech therapy and IEPs and transportation; kids in rural communities whose districts rely on federal help to keep up; kids from underserved communities; those who require vocational rehabilitation services; the list goes on. With this action, the Administration will cause children harm that cannot be undone, the potential effects of which may continue for the rest of their lives. This is thoughtless, it is reckless, and it must be stopped.”

The Department of Education’s programs serve nearly 18,200 school districts and over 50 million K-12 students attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools nationwide. Its higher education programs provide services and support to more than 12 million postsecondary students annually. Students with disabilities and students from low-income families are some of the primary beneficiaries of the Department of Education services and funding. Federal Department of Education funds for special education include support for assistive technology for students with disabilities, teacher salaries and benefits, transportation to help children receive the services and programming they need, physical therapy and speech therapy services, and social workers to help manage students’ educational experience. The Department of Education also supports students in rural communities by offering programs designed to help rural school districts that often lack the personnel and resources needed to compete for competitive grants.

As Attorney General Neronha and the coalition assert in the lawsuit, dismantling the Department of Education will have devastating effects. The Administration’s layoff is so massive that the Department of Education will be incapacitated and unable to perform essential functions. As the lawsuit asserts, the Administration’s actions will deprive students with special needs of critical resources and support. They will gut the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which protects students from discrimination and sexual assault. They would additionally hamstring the processing of financial aid, raising costs for college and university students who will have a harder time accessing loans, Pell Grants, and work study programs.

With this lawsuit, Attorney General Neronha and the coalition seek a court order to stop the Administration’s policies to dismantle the Department of Education by drastically cutting its workforce and programs. The coalition argues that the Administration’s actions to dismantle the Department of Education are illegal and unconstitutional. The Department is an executive agency authorized by Congress, with numerous laws creating various programs and funding streams. The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the Executive Branch has no legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle it without an act of Congress.

Attorney General Neronha is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont, and the District of Columbia in filing the lawsuit.