Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education (ED).
On March 11, the Trump administration announced that ED would be firing approximately 50 percent of its workforce as part of its goal of a “total shutdown” of the Department. Attorney General Brown and the coalition today 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. “President Trump’s attempt to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education threatens to strip Maryland schools of critical resources, leading to larger class sizes, fewer services for students with disabilities, and deepening inequities between well-funded and struggling districts.
The impacts wouldn’t just affect grade school students; young adults’ may not be able to pay for college with federal student loans and grants, forcing them to change their hopes and dreams,” said Attorney General Brown. “My Office is taking legal action because every Maryland student—no matter their zip code—deserves a quality education, and we will not allow the federal government to abandon its duty to our children.” The ED’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 throughout the country. 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 ED services and funding. Federal ED 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 ED 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 Brown and the coalition assert in the lawsuit, dismantling ED will have devastating effects for states, including Maryland. The administration’s lay-off is so massive that ED 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 ED’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 Brown and the coalition are seeking a court order to stop the administration’s policies to dismantle ED by drastically cutting its workforce and programs. Attorney General Brown and the coalition argue that the administration’s actions to dismantle ED are illegal and unconstitutional. The ED is an executive agency authorized by Congress, with numerous different laws creating its various programs and funding streams.
The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the Executive Branch does not have the legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle it without an act of Congress. In filing the lawsuit, Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‛i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and Vermont.
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