SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 20 other state attorneys general are asking a federal judge to immediately halt President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, the coalition of Democratic attorneys general are seeking a preliminary injunction to block the mass firing of half the agency’s employees, which Trump ordered March 11, as well as the transfer of student loan management and special education services to other federal agencies.
“States, including Illinois, are already feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education,” Raoul said in a statement late Monday. “Enrollment deadlines for Illinois public community colleges and universities approach in just a few short weeks, and the turmoil caused by the administration’s actions jeopardizes the futures of tens of thousands of Illinois students.”
The lawsuit was originally filed March 13, two days after the administration announced plans to eliminate half the agency’s workforce.
The motion for a preliminary injunction, however, was prompted by Trump’s March 20 executive order calling for the eventual closure of the department as well as his announcement the following day directing the Small Business Administration to take over processing of student loans while the Department of Health and Human Services would take over responsibility for administering special education programs.
“Ultimately, the Department of Education’s main functions can, and should, be returned to the States,” Trump said in the executive order.
But the attorneys general argue Trump is overstepping the power of the executive branch by dismantling a department established by Congress.
“No constitutional or statutory authority allows the President or the head of an agency to take actions that incapacitate core statutory functions of an agency that Congress created, or to transfer statutory duties to other agencies,” the states argued in their motion.
Raoul and the other attorneys general argue that states are already feeling the effects of Trump’s efforts to dismantle the agency.
In a statement attached as an exhibit in the original lawsuit, Illinois Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said that since the March 13 announcement of mass layoffs, Illinois has been unable to access certain categories of federal funds “because no staff remain in the Department’s Office of State and Grantee Relations.”
Sanders noted in his statement that Illinois expects to receive about $794 million in federal Title I funds this year, money targeted to the state’s lowest-performing schools. It also expects to receive another $625 million in federal funds that help pay for services for students with disabilities.
The Department of Education also administers the federal Pell Grant program, which provides need-based financial aid for college students. In the 2023-24 academic year, according to state data, more than 225,000 students in Illinois received a total of more than $1 billion in Pell Grant assistance.
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