The abolishment of the Department of Education has been a Republican goal, if a fringe one, going back several decades.
Ronald Reagan promised to get rid of the department, which had been established in 1979 by his predecessor Jimmy Carter, when he first ran for president and once mentioned the idea in a State of the Union address.
Republicans in Congress during the Newt Gingrich era had pursued that goal, and in 1996, the Republican presidential platform called for the Education Department to go away.
“The Federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the market place. This is why we will abolish the Department of Education,” that 1996 platform said.
However, Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole that year, leaving the Education Department intact. When George W. Bush became president, he went in the opposite direction, vowing more funding for the department. It also remained in place through Donald Trump’s first term.
Trump Ends It
Trump revived the idea when running for a second term, and in March, he issued an executive order, “Closing the Department of Education and Returning Authority to the States.’
“The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely,” Trump’s March order said.
Also in March, the Administration announced a “reduction in force” for the department, with nearly half of its employees placed on administrative leave beginning on March 21. That moved the department’s workforce from 4,133 to about 2,183.
The Secretary of Education, former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, told Congress this week that three-fourths of those who lost their jobs at the department were due to DOGE’s efforts, although she also said that 74 laid-off workers had been brought back.
However, this week, a judge stopped in to block the firings.
Preliminary Injunction
On Thursday, Judge Myong J. Joun of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, a Biden appointee, issued a preliminary injunction, both blocking the elimination of the department and ordering the reinstatement of thousands of fired employees.
The ruling, per the New York Times, will remain in place until either a higher court reverses it or the case is otherwise resolved. The case comes from a lawsuit filed by 21 Democratic state attorneys general, the American Federation of Teachers and two school districts in Massachusetts.
The issue? The move was made via executive order and not by statute.
“The record abundantly reveals that defendants’ true intention is to effectively dismantle the department without an authorizing statute,” the judge wrote. “The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is plainly not true.”
The administration responded to the ruling.
“Once again, a far-left judge has dramatically overstepped his authority, based on a complaint from biased plaintiffs,” Madi Biedermann, the Education Department’s deputy assistant secretary for communications, said in a statement published in the New York Times. “President Trump and the Senate-confirmed secretary of education clearly have the authority to make decisions about agency reorganization efforts, not an unelected judge with a political ax to grind.”
President Trump himself had not yet weighed in on the matter as of Thursday afternoon, although he did trash a different Massachusetts judge on Truth Social, because that judge “ordered that EIGHT of the most violent criminals on Earth curtail their journey to South Sudan, and instead remain in Djibouti. He would not allow these monsters to proceed to their final destination.” This referred to a ruling about one of the administration’s deportation flights.
About the Author
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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