The National Education Association (NEA), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and other entities have filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s order dismantling the Education Department.
According to the organizations, the elimination of the Department of Education “puts at risk the millions of vulnerable students, including those from low-income families, English learners, homeless students, rural students, and others who depend on Department support.”
The department’s dismantling further “jeopardizes more than 400,000 educator jobs; makes it impossible for the Department to ensure that federal education funding actually is spent as Congress intended; threatens support for 7.5 million students with disabilities; and leaves millions of students vulnerable to discrimination,” the groups allege.
Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement that education is “power.”
“By firing half of the workforce at the Department of Education, Trump is not only seeking to dismantle an agency — he is deliberately destroying the pathway many Americans have to a better life,” he claimed. “The forceful elimination of thousands of essential workers will harm the most vulnerable in our communities. The NAACP and our partners are equipped with the necessary legal measures to prevent this unlawful attack on our children’s future.”
Trump signed an executive order last week to begin dismantling the Department of Education.
“The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely,” the order says.
