President Trump’s move to dismantle the Department of Education has triggered widespread lawsuits and political opposition as sweeping layoffs and funding cuts reshape federal involvement in education.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump has not yet signed an executive order to formally abolish the Department of Education, but the federal agency’s dismantling is already underway. Half of its workforce has been eliminated, and over $1 billion in contracts tied to the agency’s Education Sciences division and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have been canceled. Department offices outside Washington are scheduled for closure, aiming to reduce costs further.
Federal education aid has also been withheld from universities that failed to comply with Trump’s executive order banning DEI and anti-Semitic policies. The administration warned that K–12 school districts could face similar funding cuts if they continue promoting progressive ideologies or permit biological males to compete in girls’ sports.
Roughly 2,000 of the department’s 4,133 employees have departed through layoffs or voluntary resignations, as confirmed on March 11 by the Department of Education in this announcement. A senior official described duplicative staff roles, such as six different strategic communications teams and multiple IT, HR, and administrative support teams, as evidence of redundancy and waste. The department emphasized that critical programs, including college finance, Title I funding for low-income students, special education, and civil rights investigations, remain unaffected.
Additionally, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced the termination of 89 multi-year contracts totaling $900 million for the Institute for Education Sciences. Of that, $226 million supported regional centers that, according to the department, promoted ideological research such as a study claiming, “There are too many white students in STEM.” This was referenced in a February 19 statement from the agency.
Criticism emerged from Heather Peske, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, who argued that the staff cuts would undermine educational outcomes. “Without a federal backstop, states are likely to weaken or abandon commitments to maintaining high standards for student learning and accountability for student outcomes,” Peske stated in an email. She further warned that eliminating the federal agency’s research capacity would hinder school districts’ ability to improve instruction based on test data.
While some Democrats, during congressional hearings surrounding Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s nomination, stressed the importance of federal funding for low-income and special education students, Republicans maintained there are no plans to eliminate these funding streams. Instead, they propose streamlining the system by reallocating resources to Health and Human Services or directly to states via block grants. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) told the American Enterprise Institute on March 12 that federal Title I funding levels could be reviewed, especially in light of post-COVID emergency school spending totaling $189 billion from 2021 to 2023, which he noted lacked oversight and failed to improve student results. Walberg emphasized, “[O]ur goal is to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and pursue policies that will benefit students and families, and you can expect us to work toward that goal,” as detailed in his March 12 remarks.
Student loan policies are also in flux. Borrowers enrolled in President Joe Biden’s SAVE plan remain in forbearance, with no interest accruing for the remainder of the year, while the administration crafts a new plan. Lawmakers are considering limits on federal loan amounts based on academic programs and expanding Pell grants to vocational certificate programs.
Further savings are projected through withholding funds from institutions violating civil rights laws. Columbia University recently lost $400 million in grants and contracts for failing to address harassment of Jewish students, as outlined in a March 7 statement.
Secretary McMahon pledged to continue working with DOGE to reduce federal bureaucracy and shift more authority to state and local governments. The Cato Institute observed in a report that the Department of Education budget includes $5.3 billion in discretionary grants and $2.8 billion in administrative costs. Programs with stronger constitutional protections, such as aid to tribal schools and facilities on military bases, total $2.4 billion.
Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute wrote, “Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and all that it does would produce major savings…especially if we keep only what is constitutional.”
Legal challenges are escalating. On March 13, a coalition of 20 state attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts, asserting the administration’s cuts are illegal and unconstitutional. A federal judge has already blocked the agency from slashing $250 million in teacher training grants.
Teacher unions vowed to resist the cuts. Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, warned in a March 11 statement, “Gutting the Department of Education will send class sizes soaring, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections.”
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