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‘See you in court’: Teachers union vows to fight Trump’s Education Department order
The president plans to sign an executive order on Thursday attempting to dismantle the Education Department. A leading teachers union is already preparing to challenge him.
Is this the end of the Department of Education?
Recent moves by the Trump administration effectively signal his fulfillment of a campaign promise to end ED.
WASHINGTON – “See you in court.”
That was the one-sentence retort from a leading teachers union Wednesday following news that President Donald Trump planned to sign an executive order Thursday aimed at eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.
Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, vowed to sue the administration if it moved forward with a mandate to obliterate the agency’s limited federal role in the nation’s schools.
The action is unlawful, she and others have argued, because only Congress has the power to close federal agencies. Still, the Trump administration has slashed the Education Department’s workforce in half, which is prompting widespread concern from students and schools about reductions in vital services. Democratic state attorneys general and advocates for students with disabilities sued last week to stave off those cuts.
Multiple polls have shown that the idea of abolishing the Education Department is unpopular among Americans.
Teachers unions have been at the forefront of litigation against the Trump administration’s education policies in recent weeks and months. The AFT filed a separate suit this week accusing the Education Department under Trump of “effectively breaking the student loan system.”
The president plans to sign his much-touted executive order alongside Republican governors Thursday afternoon at the White House. Lawsuits will likely follow once the full text of the order has been released.
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.