California and Other States Gear Up to Fight Department of Education’s Dismantling

California joined nearly two dozen other states in suing the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday over its move to almost halve its workforce, which Attorney General Rob Bonta said would hamper funding for low-income students and anti-discrimination efforts in districts across the state and Bay Area.

The department announced Tuesday that it would place 1,350 employees on administrative leave next week. Combined with nearly 600 employees who have accepted voluntary buy-outs or resignations since President Trump took office, that constitutes a cut of almost 50% of the department’s workforce — what Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News was the first step to shutting down the department entirely.

“This en masse firing exceeds any statutory authority granted by Congress,” Bonta said at a press conference announcing the suit, joined by 20 other Democratic attorneys general on Thursday morning. “Alongside numerous other actions the Trump administration has taken, this sweeping mass firing is, simply put, illegal.”

Created by Congress in 1979, the Department of Education administers federal education programs for K–12 schools and provides grants to local education agencies, including for special and early education services, among other duties. Unwinding it fully would almost certainly require an act of Congress.

Thursday’s lawsuit alleges that the mass firings will impede the department’s ability to carry out those statutory functions.

The reductions will also gut the department’s civil rights division, which enforces anti-discrimination laws in school districts. Seven of the division’s 12 offices, including the one in San Francisco, will be closed.

The Office for Civil Rights protects students from race-based discrimination and sexual assault, and it supports students who have disabilities or are members of other protected classes — all obligations that Bonta said would be impossible for a diminished Department of Education to carry out.

“That is a congressionally required function of the Department of Education,” he said. “It must be fulfilled, and it is unlawful and unconstitutional for it to be dismantled the way that the Trump administration has sought to dismantle it.”

It’s unclear to what extent Bay Area schools will feel the effects of the cuts, but McMahon said that the department will retain the “right people” to ensure its grants and appropriations from Congress are being met.

San Francisco’s public school budget for 2024–25 included more than $45 million in federal funding — including millions for both early child development and care and nutrition programs. That’s just short of 4% of the district’s $1.3 billion budget.

The suit follows another Bonta joined against the Department of Education last week, which aimed to reverse funding cuts for teacher training programs at universities, including eight California State and University of California campuses.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun granted a temporary two-week restraining order blocking the Trump administration from terminating $600 million worth of Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grants. That funding supports residency programs that train K–12 teachers in difficult-to-staff regions and specialties, such as special education.

Bonta said Thursday he was prepared to take action if that order wasn’t followed.

The attorneys general who have signed onto the suit against the mass firings also said the move was somewhat anticipatory, as the Trump administration has signaled that it will issue an executive order calling for McMahon to dismantle her agency “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”

“In many ways, we’re getting ahead of what may come,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said. “What we know to be true is that you have a president and an education secretary where their goal is to dismantle this agency in its entirety.

“Number one, we are pointing out to this court and to the public that they do not have the authority to dismantle any agency that was created by Congress. [And] second … [the employees] who were recently suspended or let go, they have critical functions that they serve.”