Trump admin battles teachers’ unions in latest Education Department legal challenges

President Donald Trump’s administration faces several legal challenges over its attempts to ultimately dismantle the Department of Education.

On Monday, the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, filed a lawsuit against the administration’s allegedly “illegal attempts” to terminate the ED. The NEA was joined by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a Maryland-based labor union, and parents of public school children.

‘Done nothing to advance the educational outcomes of America’s students.’

“Taken together, Defendants’ steps since January 20, 2025, constitute a de facto dismantling of the Department by executive fiat,” the complaint read. “But the Constitution gives power over ‘the establishment of offices [and] the determination of their functions and jurisdiction’ to Congress—not to the President or any officer working under him.”

The union claimed that the termination of the ED would negatively impact students.

“Eliminating or effectively shuttering the Department puts at risk the millions of vulnerable students, including those from low-income families, English learners, homeless students, rural students, and others who depend on Department support,” the NEA stated.

However, the union also acknowledged that the “vast majority of America’s public education system” is overseen by “state and local governments.”

NEA President Becky Pringle accused Trump, Elon Musk, and ED Secretary Linda McMahon of “try[ing] to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”

A separate lawsuit was also filed against the administration by the American Federation of Teachers, joined by “a coalition of educators, school districts, and unions.”

“From distributing funds to help schools work with students with disabilities, to providing support and assistance to parents and families, protecting students’ civil rights, and making sure higher education is affordable for deserving students, civil servants at the Department of Education are essential to the success of students. Mass firings of these hardworking people planned by the Trump administration will harm students and schools,” the AFT stated.

AFT President Randi Weingarten said, “The Department of Education, and the laws it is supposed to execute, has one major purpose: to fill opportunity gaps to help every child in America succeed.”

“That’s what the ‘equal access’ provided for in the statute means. And over the last five decades, Congress has fulfilled this mission to help poor kids, kids with disabilities, first generation college kids, kids who want to work in a trade, and 45 million Americans with student debt. Now, wielding a sledgehammer, this president is destroying that promise for this and future generations,” Weingarten continued. “No one likes bureaucracy, and everyone’s in favor of more efficiency, so let’s find ways to accomplish that.”

Both lawsuits expressed concerns that the massive cuts to the ED would interrupt critical services. However, just last week, the Trump administration stated that core functions of the department would not be impacted. The president announced he would shift some of the department’s remaining duties to other federal agencies. Moving forward, the Small Business Administration will manage student loans, while the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education.

Harrison Fields, principal deputy press secretary for the White House, told USA Today, “Instead of playing politics with baseless lawsuits, these groups should ditch the courtroom and work with the Trump administration and states on improving the classroom.”

“The NEA and NAACP have done nothing to advance the educational outcomes of America’s students and the latest NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress] scores prove that,” Fields concluded.

The Trump administration and its ED cuts are already facing a lawsuit filed by a group of attorneys general from 20 states and Washington, D.C.

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