Maine is joining 19 other states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit over massive layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education.
The lawsuit claims the layoffs will incapacitate key functions at the Department and cause immense damage to the states and their education systems.
Maine has received an average of $250 million in federal money for K-12 education over the past decade, mostly through the Department of Education.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday after the Department announced a roughly 50 percent reduction in its workforce on Tuesday.
The Department said it was placing 1,378 employees on administrative leave beginning on March 21, joining around 600 others who took earlier buy-out offers.
“Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon
The lawsuit from the states names McMahon, President Trump and the U.S. Department of Transportation as defendants.
The suit noted that McMahon said on Tuesday the terminations were the “first step” on the road to a “total shutdown” of the Department.
Thus far, regional offices of the Office for Civil Rights in Boston, San Francisco, Cleveland, New York, Chicago, Dallas, and Philadelphia have been eliminated and closed, with employees terminated in each of those offices.
The lawsuit argues that “only Congress only may abolish an agency it created” and “the Trump Administration cannot dismantle the Department of Education.”
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey released a statement Thursday on the lawsuit, noting the Department of Education support low-income and special education students as well as college grant programs in Maine.
“The gutting of the DOE effectively dismantles that Department without congressional approval,: said Frey. “Congress has committed these important services to Maine families and I join this litigation to ensure citizens will continue to benefit from these programs.”
