Schools welcomed the decision, which will bring back droves of staffers on which they rely to deliver key services. But it’s not clear how many employees are even willing to return.
How would a Dept. of Education closure affect Americans?
U.S. President Donald Trump moved to eliminate the Department of Education. But he can’t shutter the agency without congressional legislation.
WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Thursday temporarily reinstated hundreds of Education Department workers laid off by the Trump administration and blocked the president’s executive order attempting to dismantle the decades-old agency.
District Court Judge Myong J. Joun, a Biden appointee in Boston, said the White House’s decision to fire more than 1,300 workers in March has prevented the federal government from effectively implementing legally required programs and services.
At the request of a coalition of states, he granted a preliminary injunction to rehire the staffers while a lawsuit plays out over whether the employees were illegally fired.
States and school districts are experiencing “delays and uncertainty in their receipt of federal educational funding, amounting in the millions, which jeopardize their missions of ensuring an educated citizenry and providing quality education,” the judge wrote in the order. “Such delays and uncertainty raise immediate predicaments about whether there will be sufficient staff and student programming for the 2025-2026 school year and hinder long term planning.”
Though the decision is provisional, it may provide short-term relief to thousands of K-12 schools and colleges, some of which have struggled as key elements of the American education system have begun to falter since the Trump administration effectively cut the Education Department in half.
The judge also blocked an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March aimed at taking “all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.” Only Congress has the authority to abolish federal agencies. Though both legislative chambers are currently controlled by Republicans, the GOP would need support from Democrats to pass any bills dismantling the Education Department.
The executive order “goes directly against Congress’s intent in creating the Department,” the judge ruled.
“While it may be true that the President has the power to remove executive officers,” he wrote, “Defendants cite to no case that this power includes the power to dismantle Congressionally created departments and programs through mass terminations.”
The ruling is a major win for agency workers. It’s not clear, however, how many of them will be willing to return to their old jobs.
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.