Raoul joins motion to block dismantling of U.S. Education Department
[March 26, 2025]
By Peter Hancock
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 20 other state
attorneys general are asking a federal judge to immediately halt
President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of
Education.
In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, the
coalition of Democratic attorneys general are seeking a preliminary
injunction to block the mass firing of half the agency’s employees,
which Trump ordered March 11, as well as the transfer of student loan
management and special education services to other federal agencies.
“States, including Illinois, are already feeling the impact of the Trump
administration’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education,”
Raoul said in a statement late Monday. “Enrollment deadlines for
Illinois public community colleges and universities approach in just a
few short weeks, and the turmoil caused by the administration’s actions
jeopardizes the futures of tens of thousands of Illinois students.”
The lawsuit was originally filed March 13, two days after the
administration announced plans to eliminate half the agency’s workforce.
The motion for a preliminary injunction, however, was prompted by
Trump’s March 20 executive order calling for the eventual closure of the
department as well as his announcement the following day directing the
Small Business Administration to take over processing of student loans
while the Department of Health and Human Services would take over
responsibility for administering special education programs.
“Ultimately, the Department of Education’s main functions can, and
should, be returned to the States,” Trump said in the executive order.
But the attorneys general argue Trump is overstepping the power of the
executive branch by dismantling a department established by Congress.
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Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul discusses a lawsuit against
the federal government at a news conference in January 2025.
(Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)
“No constitutional or statutory authority allows the President or the
head of an agency to take actions that incapacitate core statutory
functions of an agency that Congress created, or to transfer statutory
duties to other agencies,” the states argued in their motion.
Raoul and the other attorneys general argue that states are already
feeling the effects of Trump’s efforts to dismantle the agency.
In a statement attached as an exhibit in the original lawsuit, Illinois
Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said that since the March 13
announcement of mass layoffs, Illinois has been unable to access certain
categories of federal funds “because no staff remain in the Department’s
Office of State and Grantee Relations.”
Sanders noted in his statement that Illinois expects to receive about
$794 million in federal Title I funds this year, money targeted to the
state’s lowest-performing schools. It also expects to receive another
$625 million in federal funds that help pay for services for students
with disabilities.
The Department of Education also administers the federal Pell Grant
program, which provides need-based financial aid for college students.
In the 2023-24 academic year, according to state data, more than 225,000
students in Illinois received a total of more than $1 billion in Pell
Grant assistance.
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