Earlier today (March 13,) Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and 20 of her colleagues across the country launched a lawsuit against the Musk/Trump/Vance Central Committee to stop their efforts to gut the staff at the United States Department of Education.
In a press release, Attorney General Mayes wrote:
“Let’s not pretend this is about making government more efficient. It is not. It is destruction. It isn’t about better education policy. It is about tearing down public education by those who want to privatize it for profit.”
Indeed, MAGA Republicans, in their manifesto, Project 2025, have called for the abolition of the Department of Education and the institution of a national welfare for the wealthy private school voucher program like the Empowerment Scholarship Account system in Arizona.
According to the Mayes press release, the gutting of the Department of Education staff is harmful to children because:
“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 Mayes and the coalition assert in the lawsuit, dismantling ED will have devastating effects for states like Arizona. 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.”
During a morning press conference, the Attorney General justified the suit by saying the Musk/Trump/Vance Central Committee attempt to abolish the Department of Education, saying:
“This is not just an administrative shakeup. This is part of a deliberate effort to dismantle public education in this country and it is going to hurt students, families, and schools, especially in rural areas that rely on federal support.”
Mayes continued, “Let’s be clear. There is no way the Department of Education can perform its legal obligations with half the workforce. Federal law requires the Department of Education to oversee student loans, oversee civil rights protections, and support students with disabilities. It distributes billions of dollars in funding to schools. You can not fire half the people responsible for these programs and pretend that nothing will change.”
“That is not streamlining. That is sabotage. That is why I once again sued the Trump Administration.”
Please click here to read the complaint filed by Mayes and the other 20 State Attorneys General.
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