California on Thursday joined other Democratic-led states in suing the Trump administration, seeking to halt massive layoffs at the Department of Education, alleging the cuts amount to an illegal shutdown of its crucial work to administer student loans, protect civil rights and aid poor districts and students with disabilities.
In the suit, filed in federal district court in Massachusetts, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta joined attorneys representing 19 Democratic states and the District of Columbia. The complaint alleges staff reductions that Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced this week are a “reckless” attempt to carry out President Trump’s desire to close the department by making it unable to carry out work mandated by Congress.
The Trump administration began dismantling the department this week, laying off about half of the agency’s employees and carrying out what McMahon has said is key to the department’s “final mission” to no longer exist.
“It is a bedrock constitutional principle that the president and his agencies cannot make law. Rather, they can only—and indeed, they must — implement the laws enacted by Congress, including those statutes that create federal agencies and dictate their duties,” the suit said. “The
executive thus can neither outright abolish an agency nor incapacitate it by cutting away the personnel required to implement the agency’s statutorily-mandated duties.”
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit.
The suit asks a judge to order a stop to the layoffs, which are to take effect March 21. The staff reduction would leave 2,183 workers at the department, down from 4,133 in January.
Bonta filed the lawsuit with attorneys from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont and the District of Columbia.
California receives billions in federal funding from the Education Department for K-12 and higher education students and programs. The department has been unclear on how it will carry out its funding obligations, but said this week that it will continue to do work it is mandated to do by Congress.
California receives an estimated $16.3 billion annually in federal funding for K-12 school students, or about $2,750 per student. The Los Angeles Unified School District — the nation’s second-largest school system — puts its annual federal support at $1.26 billion.
Not all of these dollars funnel through the Department of Education. Significant federal funding for early childhood education comes from the Department of Health and Human Services, and the gigantic student meal program is funded by the Department of Agriculture. L.A. Unified alone estimates that it receives $363 million to feed students from low-income families.
About 80% of L.A. Unified students qualify for Title I-funded services aimed at giving academic support to students from low-income and poor families. The help includes tutoring, smaller classes, after-school programs, teacher training, counseling and family engagement. Another major funding area aids students with disabilities.
In higher education, the Education Department also handles student loans for 43 million borrowers who owe the government more than $1.5 trillion. About half of Cal State University students, for example, receive student loans, a portfolio of more than $1 billion.
The Pell Grant program, which awards more than $120 billion to 13 million students each year to help pay for higher education, is also managed by the department. About $1.5 billion per year is set aside in Pell Grants for California students.
Questions have also risen about civil rights enforcement. As part of the layoffs, in San Francisco, the regional branch of the department’s Office for Civil Rights — already backlogged with investigations into school-related discrimination — is closing. Six other regional civil rights offices are also slated for closure.
Monday’s suit is one of several that Bonta and blue state attorneys general have filed against the Trump administration.
On March 6, California joined seven other states suing the Trump administration over cancellation of $250 million grants to them — $600 million nationwide — for teacher training programs funded through the Education Department. The administration said the programs promote inappropriate and “divisive ideologies” linked to diversity, equity and inclusion, known as DEI. A federal judge on Monday ordered the programs reinstated while he reviewed the case.
