Massachusetts
Mass. AG sues over Trump Administration efforts to dismantle Dept. of Education
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and a coalition of 20 other state attorneys general are suing the Trump Administration over its efforts to shut down the Department of Education, which they say cannot be done without congressional approval.
Nearly half of the Education Department’s workforce is set to be off the job, including all of the employees in Boston’s regional office.
About 1,300 career employees received termination notices Tuesday night, informing them they will be placed on administrative leave beginning March 21.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Boston’s federal court, the attorneys general said these drastic cuts will make the department unable to perform its statutory duties. Because the president cannot dismantle a department created by Congress without its approval according to the Constitution, the lawsuit argues the actions are unlawful.
The action names President Donald Trump U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and the U.S. Department of Education as defendants.
Nearly half of the Education Department’s workforce is set to be off the job, including employees right in Boston.
Follow NBC10 Boston:
https://instagram.com/nbc10boston
https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston
https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston
Tweets by NBC10Boston
https://bsky.app/profile/nbcboston.com
“By attempting to dismantle the Department of Education which, among many things, funds educational programs that benefit low-income children and students with disabilities and enforces laws that prohibit discrimination in education, the Trump Administration is making it crystal clear that it does not prioritize our students, teachers or families,” Campbell said in a media statement.
The Department of Education has various responsibilities, including ensuring equal opportunities to all students, promoting education improvements through research and communication, and coordinating education initiatives across the country. In Massachusetts alone, the department directs nearly $2 billion in funding for K-12 schools, money that is used for things like special education programs, teacher salaries and benefits, social workers, professional development programs, after school programs, transportation, and reading and language specialists.
All employees working out of the department’s regional office here in Boston will be part of these layoffs.
Follow NBC10 Boston:
https://instagram.com/nbc10boston
https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston
https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston
Tweets by NBC10Boston
https://bsky.app/profile/nbcboston.com
Due to collective bargaining agreements, laid-off workers will get full pay and benefits until June 9 along with severance based on time served.
Trump campaigned on a promise to close the Department of Education.
Governor Maura Healey says that would be disastrous for children who need help the most.
The Department of Education says dozens of schools, including six in Massachusetts, are facing “potential enforcement.”
“What that potentially means is we see federal funding going away for Head Start, for special education, for after school programs, for Title 1 programs,” Mass. Governor Maura Healey said. “Imagine if your child is on an IEP and has the benefit of an aid in the classroom, you know funding for this is all going to go away so I pray to God it doesn’t happen.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement that the layoffs reflect the department’s “commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”
BOSTON (WWLP) – The Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) announced Wednesday that it is distributing 5,063 internet-enabled devices to 45 organizations across the state.
The statewide effort, administered through the Connected and Online program, aims to expand economic opportunity by increasing digital access. This program is a $31.6 million initiative funded through the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund that provides Massachusetts-based organizations with laptops, tablets, and desktop computers to help residents access the internet.
Equipment provided through the program also includes supportive items, such as braille keyboards, intended to assist vulnerable populations.
Both Gateway Cities and rural communities are supported by the Connected and Online program, as residents are provided with direct access to devices through lending programs or resources at publicly accessible locations.
“The Connected and Online program opens doors for communities to access critical services and build relationships with their neighbors,” said Governor Maura Healey. “By partnering with trusted local organizations, we’re helping more people get online, access essential services, and connect to new educational and economic opportunities.”
To date, the program has provided nearly 32,000 devices and more than 13,000 pieces of supportive equipment. These devices have been distributed to hospitals, municipalities, nonprofits, public libraries, elder and youth aid groups, and workforce training organizations across the Commonwealth.
This latest award announcement follows a prior distribution launched by MBI on April 2, which included nearly 27,000 devices to over 200 organizations across the state.
“MBI is leveraging strong relationships with local and regional organizations to deliver digital devices for Massachusetts residents,” said MBI Program Executive Jody Jones. “The Connected and Online program is a statewide effort to expand access, increase digital skills training, and, at its core, expand the ability to connect to the internet.”
For a full list of awardees, visit broadband.mass.tech.org.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Download the 22News Plus app on your TV to watch live-streaming newscasts and video on demand.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WWLP. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WWLP staff before being published.
If you want to help people in poverty, don’t drive the wealthy out of state.
That might be something the state senators in the Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities should keep in mind after they advanced a sweeping bill going full bore at reducing the state’s poverty rate.
Sen. Sal DiDomenico told the State House News his proposal (S 3095) “is a compilation of many bills that have already been filed.” According to his office, the bill, as originally filed, included provisions that would increase the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children cash benefits for pregnant people, families and caregivers; increase Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children cash benefits; codify related benefits and allowances; and bar the government from taking any amount of child support payments from low-income parents.
His office also said the bill would direct the state to replace Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cash benefits “stolen by criminal rings through skimming or phishing”; ensure access to free menstrual products in public schools, homeless shelters, prisons and county jails; raise farmworker wages to at least the state’s minimum wage; establish a “baby bonds program”; and “enhance” the attorney general’s ability to “ensure companies pay their employees the wages they deserve and hold employers accountable when they steal workers’ wages.”
It’s a tall order, and an impressive one. But the hurdle isn’t just getting it on the Senate’s agenda before the July 31 deadline, it’s how to pay for it.
The idea of front-loading assistance appears sound: helping people escape poverty means they won’t need to rely on social services down the line. But it will still take a sustainable revenue source to keep it all going.
And Massachusetts has been shooting itself in the foot when it comes to keeping revenue inside state borders.
According to Moneywise, Massachusetts millionaires took $4.2 billion in income out of the state in 2023, new Internal Revenue Service data revealed.
As reported by Bloomberg, that’s an 8% increase from the year before, and it comes just as the state began enforcing a new 4% surtax on incomes above $1 million. Higher-income households are now accounting for a larger share of total departures from the state. In 2023, top earners accounted for roughly 70% of total income outflow. That doubles their share from just a few years earlier.
We need to keep them, and their tax payments, here.
But that won’t happen if efforts to lower taxes are met with derision, and the notion that tax breaks only benefit the very rich. The deep-pocketed set that’s heading to tax-friendlier states are gifting their new home turf with a cumulative windfall, even if the individual tax amount is lower than the Bay State.
The same goes for companies who see better opportunities elsewhere.
The senators working on anti-poverty measures have some great ideas, and they should have a budget to implement them. Lifting people up from poverty uplifts the state.
But we can’t pay the bill if we keep driving out high-earning taxpayers. To help the poor, we must keep the rich.
Trombetta’s Farm, at 655 Farm Rd., is listed as a Central Massachusetts stop on the Massachusetts Ice Cream Trail, a state-backed guide launched in 2024 to promote ice cream shops, farm stands, and dairy farms that use Massachusetts dairy products, according to GBH.
The trail features more than 100 destinations across Massachusetts and is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. The map includes dairy farms with ice cream stands, farms selling packaged ice cream, and shops selling Massachusetts ice cream products, according to the tourism office.
-
Atlanta, GA2 minutes agoArgentina advances to World Cup final with 2-1 win over England
-
Minneapolis, MN8 minutes agoBWCA wildfires continue to escalate, peacetime emergency extended
-
Indianapolis, IN14 minutes agoNFL Trade Rumor: Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers emerge as top landing spots for $4M Cleveland Browns’ QB
-
Pittsburg, PA20 minutes agoPostponed: Waiting on Parkway East bridge to be demolished in explosion
-
Augusta, GA26 minutes agoAugusta youth program feels state budget cut heading into new school year
-
Washington, D.C32 minutes agoNational Guard continuing DC deployment through Inauguration ’29
-
Cleveland, OH38 minutes agoCleveland Advances Housing Manufacturing Strategy with MMY US Selection and Historic Tax Credit Award for Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Building
-
Austin, TX44 minutes agoAustin Pets Alive! activates emergency response to assist shelters affected by flooding
