93 Education, Civil Rights, and Disability Organizations’ Joint Statement in Opposition to Legislation to Provide Cover to the Administration’s Illegal Dismantling of the Department of Education
We, the undersigned 93 education, civil rights, and disability organizations, strongly oppose the package of bills scheduled for markup this week (HR 9602-9611) in the Committee on Education & Workforce that would provide wrongful cover for the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education. Congress established the Department nearly 50 years ago to provide focused and expert support for our nation’s schools and students and as a national commitment to high quality education for all. We urge the Committee to reject these bills.
For more than a year, the Trump administration has worked to illegally dismantle the Department of Education. These efforts, effectuated through the unprecedented and unauthorized use of Interagency Agreements to transfer education programs after the mass firing of thousands of staff, have created chaos and confusion for states, districts, and schools providing public education to P-12 students across the country, and needlessly increased bureaucracy for students, families, school districts, and institutions of higher education.
Dismantling the Department comes over the objections of parents, students, and educators throughout the country, who continue to reject the efforts to politicize our nation’s classrooms at the expense of our students’ future, and of Congress itself, which has also consistently signaled its opposition to these actions on a bipartisan basis. The legislative branch rejected the administration’s prior request to deeply cut federal education funding; maintained existing prohibitions on reprogramming and transferring funds in the Fiscal Year 2026 spending deal; and included report language supported by both parties and signed into law by the current president stating there is “no authority” for the administration to transfer these programs to other federal agencies.
We urge the Committee to reject these misguided bills and to instead exercise their oversight authority over the executive branch, and align with Congressional majorities in rejecting the dismantlement of the Department of Education. The American people support public education and want their leaders to focus on improving educational opportunity, not dissolving the agency tasked with that very mission.
Signed,