FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2025
March 20, 2025
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-374-6491
[email protected]
Trump’s Directive to Abolish Education Department Will Destroy Education in America, Union Says
Critical services targeting lower-income students, students with disabilities will vanish with department
WASHINGTON – The American Federation of Government Employees, which is the exclusive representative for federal employees at the Department of Education, is outraged over President Trump’s directive issued today to dismantle the department and his calls on Congress to pass legislation permanently abolishing the department.
“The Department of Education plays a crucial role supporting our students and their families at schools and universities in every community across this nation, and President Trump’s directive to eliminate this small but mighty agency would destroy our education system and devastate future generations of students,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said. “The public agrees, too: in a recent Wall Street Journal poll, more than 60% of voters said they are opposed to eliminating the department.”
Trump’s announcement follows a series of actions to decimate the Education Department’s workplace: putting dozens of employees on administrative leave for participating in various voluntary diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings, committees, and councils – some of which were held during the first Trump administration; coercing other employees to quit with a limited-time buyout offer; and announcing a widespread reduction-in-force affecting half of the department’s workforce.
Even though it has the fewest employees of all 15 Cabinet-level agencies, the Education Department provides essential support to America’s students and 13,000 schools nationwide. Just 4,200 employees work for the department – 2,800 of whom are represented by AFGE.
“This executive order is nothing more than an illegal overreach of executive power designed to unemploy dedicated civil servants and decimate the critical services they provide to millions of Americans across this country,” AFGE Local 252 President Sheria Smith said as part of a larger statement. “The Department of Education’s critical work is at stake, and it is crucial for our future generations that we continue to defend the agency against this political regime.”
Although funding and policy decisions for individual schools are made largely at the state and local levels, the Education Department provides crucial financial support to low-income students and families across the country. It also helps cash-strapped school districts provide programs and services that they would otherwise struggle to provide, particularly those benefiting students with disabilities.
The department reaches more than 800,000 preschool-aged children through its Head Start program, and employees in the department’s Federal Student Aid office administer billions in financial assistance annually that millions of students rely on to afford college. Department staff also provide professional development for teachers, conduct key educational research and innovation grants, and administer key assessment and data collection – critical to ensuring accountability and allowing good schools to become great schools.
AFGE is currently weighing its legal options as it relates to challenging this directive.
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