New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today joined a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration to stop the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. On March 11, the Trump Administration announced that the U.S. 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 Platkin 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.

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“Trump’s flagrant attempts to dismantle the Department of Education by executive action are blatantly illegal, and they will harm millions of students, teachers, and families in New Jersey who depend on the vital services and funding the Department of Education provides,” said Attorney General Platkin. “As I have said, President Trump is not a king, and he cannot unilaterally decide to close a Cabinet agency. We are taking the Trump Administration to court again to prevent the Trump Administration from inflicting grave harm on our state’s schools, and especially our special needs students.”

The U.S. 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 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 the Department’s services and funding. Federal 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 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 Platkin and the coalition assert in the lawsuit, dismantling ED will have devastating effects for states like New Jersey. The administration’s layoffs are so massive that they will incapacitate the Department and render it 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 will 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 Platkin and the coalition are seeking a court order to stop the administration’s attempt to dismantle ED by drastically cutting its workforce and programs. Attorney General Platkin and the coalition argue that the administration’s actions to dismantle ED are illegal and unconstitutional. The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the Executive Branch does not have the legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle the Department without an act of Congress.

Joining Attorney General Platkin in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.