‘Students Deserve So Much Better,’ Union Leader Says as Trump Tears Up Education Department
“This contemptible assault on American education must be condemned by everyone who strives towards a prosperous future for our country and our children,” said one opponent of the new partnerships.
Students greet their former teacher on the first day of the new school year at Price Elementary School in Anaheim, California on August 8, 2024.
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Shortly after journalists began reporting on the new plans Tuesday, citing unnamed sources, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon confirmed the agreements with the departments of Health and Human Services, the Interior, Labor, and State.
One federal official told Politico that the partnerships are a “proof of concept strategy to show Congress how this can be done,” and said that the Education Department will work with lawmakers “on making these agreements permanent.”
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union representing nearly 3 million employees, noted in a statement that “Donald Trump and his administration chose American Education Week, a time when our nation is celebrating students, public schools, and educators, to announce their illegal plan to further abandon students by dismantling the Department of Education.”
“Not only do they want to starve and steal from our students—they want to rob them of their futures,” Pringle said. “Ensuring a brighter future for our children should be a top priority for any administration, but this administration is taking every chance it can to hack away at the very protections and services our students need.”
“Just last week, they went to the Supreme Court to avoid feeding families. And they’re still pushing to gut healthcare programs,” she continued. “Now, they’re neglecting the basic responsibility to educate our children. It’s cruel. It’s shameful. And our students deserve so much better.”
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, whose union represents 1.8 million people, declared that “this move is neither streamlining nor reform—it’s an abdication and abandonment of America’s future.”
“Spreading services across multiple departments will create more confusion, more mistakes, and more barriers for people who are just trying to access the support they need.”
“What’s happening now isn’t about slashing red tape. If that were the goal, teachers could help them do it, and we invite Donald Trump and Linda McMahon to sit down with educators and hear from the people who actually do this work every day,” she emphasized. “Teachers know how to make the federal role more effective, efficient, and supportive of real learning—if only the administration would listen.”
“Instead, spreading services across multiple departments will create more confusion, more mistakes, and more barriers for people who are just trying to access the support they need,” she warned.
Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director for nonprofit Protect Borrowers, similarly said that “shuffling certain functions of the US Department of Education across four different agencies is a political stunt that will only lead to more chaos and confusion for working families who just want their kids to get a quality education, to be able to pay for college, and to pay off their student loans.”
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, also slammed the announcement, saying that “in his ongoing rampage against everything that makes our country what it is, President Trump is now acting on the plan to destroy the Department of Education.”
“Short of toppling the Statue of Liberty, there is perhaps nothing that could capture the agenda of this administration more than what they are in fact doing right now: Making an enemy out of education itself,” she suggested. “This contemptible assault on American education must be condemned by everyone who strives towards a prosperous future for our country and our children.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.)—a former preschool teacher and local school board member—also piled on, saying that “Donald Trump and Linda McMahon are lawlessly trying to fulfill Project 2025’s goal to abolish the Department of Education and pull the rug out from students in every part of the country.”
“But instead of seeking congressional approval of their reckless actions to weaken our education system—which McMahon has acknowledged is necessary—Trump and McMahon are now pretending that our laws and the constitutional separation of powers are a mere suggestion,” said Murray, who used to lead and remains a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
“This is an outright illegal effort to continue dismantling the Department of Education,” she argued, “and it is students and families who will suffer the consequences as key programs that help students learn to read or that strengthen ties between schools and families are spun off to agencies with little to no relevant expertise and are gravely weakened—or even completely broken—in the process.”
The senator stressed that she is “always ready and willing to talk about reforms to our education laws to improve educational outcomes for students,” and urged her Republican colleagues to join Democrats in standing up against the administration’s attacks.
The GOP controls both chambers of Congress. According to Murray, “The fact that Trump and McMahon are choosing to break the law to do this on their own—despite having unified Republican control of Washington—tells us they know just how unpopular their plans are and can’t win the approval of members of their own party.”
'Will not stand': Trump under fire as dismantling of massive department advances
Robert Davis
November 18, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon shakes hands with Annette Albright next to U.S. President Donald Trump during an event to sign executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis
Political analysts and observers slammed President Donald Trump's administration on Monday for its latest attempt to dismantle a government agency.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration made significant strides toward dismantling the Department of Education by assigning some of the agency's grant portfolio to other departments. Some of those programs include a $28 billion program that supports K-12 education, and a $3.1 billion grant that helps students complete college, according to the report.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been a key ally in Trump's mission to dismantle the Department of Education, which has been a target of conservative politicians for decades. The report indicates that McMahon has "vowed to work to dismantle it from within" and is working to find other agencies to carry out the department's functions.
"This fall, she took a first step and moved career and technical education programs, including adult education and family literacy initiatives, to the Labor Department," the report reads.
Political analysts and observers shared their takes on social media.
"Trump & McMahon are lawlessly trying to abolish the Department of Education & tear down public education in America," Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) posted on X. "They know how unpopular this plan is—that's why despite Republican majorities in Congress, they're choosing to do this ILLEGALLY."
"Dismantling the Department of Education without Congressional action is illegal," Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) posted on X. "It hurts our students, including vulnerable kids such as those with IEPs, threatens the support they are provided, and harms the education they deserve. This will not stand."
"This deeply unpopular administration lacks the votes in Congress to shut down ED," Kevin Carey, vice president of education and work at New America, said in a statement. "That’s why Secretary McMahon is creating a bureaucratic Rube Goldberg machine that will waste millions of taxpayer dollars by outsourcing vital programs to other agencies. It’s like paying a contractor double to mow your lawn and then claiming you’ve cut the home maintenance budget. It makes no sense."
"So to distract from his involvement in covering up a massive sex trafficking scandal, the president is going to...further dismantle the Education Department?" The Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf posted on Bluesky.
Read the entire report by clicking here.
“This contemptible assault on American education must be condemned by everyone who strives towards a prosperous future for our country and our children,” said one opponent of the new partnerships.
Students greet their former teacher on the first day of the new school year at Price Elementary School in Anaheim, California on August 8, 2024.
(Photo by Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
Jessica Corbett
Nov 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Teachers union leaders, Democratic lawmakers, and other critics of President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the US Department of Education on Tuesday forcefully denounced what the administration is calling “new agency partnerships to break up federal bureaucracy.”
Although the Education Department cannot be fully shuttered without approval from Congress, Trump has signed an executive order aimed at starting the process “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law” and laid off over 1,300 workers.
Jessica Corbett
Nov 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Teachers union leaders, Democratic lawmakers, and other critics of President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the US Department of Education on Tuesday forcefully denounced what the administration is calling “new agency partnerships to break up federal bureaucracy.”
Although the Education Department cannot be fully shuttered without approval from Congress, Trump has signed an executive order aimed at starting the process “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law” and laid off over 1,300 workers.
RECOMMENDED...
100+ US Campus Protests to Call Out Trump Attacks and Unaffordable Education
Protesters at 100+ Campuses Tell Trump ‘Hands Off Higher Ed!’
Shortly after journalists began reporting on the new plans Tuesday, citing unnamed sources, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon confirmed the agreements with the departments of Health and Human Services, the Interior, Labor, and State.
One federal official told Politico that the partnerships are a “proof of concept strategy to show Congress how this can be done,” and said that the Education Department will work with lawmakers “on making these agreements permanent.”
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union representing nearly 3 million employees, noted in a statement that “Donald Trump and his administration chose American Education Week, a time when our nation is celebrating students, public schools, and educators, to announce their illegal plan to further abandon students by dismantling the Department of Education.”
“Not only do they want to starve and steal from our students—they want to rob them of their futures,” Pringle said. “Ensuring a brighter future for our children should be a top priority for any administration, but this administration is taking every chance it can to hack away at the very protections and services our students need.”
“Just last week, they went to the Supreme Court to avoid feeding families. And they’re still pushing to gut healthcare programs,” she continued. “Now, they’re neglecting the basic responsibility to educate our children. It’s cruel. It’s shameful. And our students deserve so much better.”
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, whose union represents 1.8 million people, declared that “this move is neither streamlining nor reform—it’s an abdication and abandonment of America’s future.”
“Spreading services across multiple departments will create more confusion, more mistakes, and more barriers for people who are just trying to access the support they need.”
“What’s happening now isn’t about slashing red tape. If that were the goal, teachers could help them do it, and we invite Donald Trump and Linda McMahon to sit down with educators and hear from the people who actually do this work every day,” she emphasized. “Teachers know how to make the federal role more effective, efficient, and supportive of real learning—if only the administration would listen.”
“Instead, spreading services across multiple departments will create more confusion, more mistakes, and more barriers for people who are just trying to access the support they need,” she warned.
Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director for nonprofit Protect Borrowers, similarly said that “shuffling certain functions of the US Department of Education across four different agencies is a political stunt that will only lead to more chaos and confusion for working families who just want their kids to get a quality education, to be able to pay for college, and to pay off their student loans.”
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, also slammed the announcement, saying that “in his ongoing rampage against everything that makes our country what it is, President Trump is now acting on the plan to destroy the Department of Education.”
“Short of toppling the Statue of Liberty, there is perhaps nothing that could capture the agenda of this administration more than what they are in fact doing right now: Making an enemy out of education itself,” she suggested. “This contemptible assault on American education must be condemned by everyone who strives towards a prosperous future for our country and our children.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.)—a former preschool teacher and local school board member—also piled on, saying that “Donald Trump and Linda McMahon are lawlessly trying to fulfill Project 2025’s goal to abolish the Department of Education and pull the rug out from students in every part of the country.”
“But instead of seeking congressional approval of their reckless actions to weaken our education system—which McMahon has acknowledged is necessary—Trump and McMahon are now pretending that our laws and the constitutional separation of powers are a mere suggestion,” said Murray, who used to lead and remains a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
“This is an outright illegal effort to continue dismantling the Department of Education,” she argued, “and it is students and families who will suffer the consequences as key programs that help students learn to read or that strengthen ties between schools and families are spun off to agencies with little to no relevant expertise and are gravely weakened—or even completely broken—in the process.”
The senator stressed that she is “always ready and willing to talk about reforms to our education laws to improve educational outcomes for students,” and urged her Republican colleagues to join Democrats in standing up against the administration’s attacks.
The GOP controls both chambers of Congress. According to Murray, “The fact that Trump and McMahon are choosing to break the law to do this on their own—despite having unified Republican control of Washington—tells us they know just how unpopular their plans are and can’t win the approval of members of their own party.”
'Will not stand': Trump under fire as dismantling of massive department advances
Robert Davis
November 18, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon shakes hands with Annette Albright next to U.S. President Donald Trump during an event to sign executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis
Political analysts and observers slammed President Donald Trump's administration on Monday for its latest attempt to dismantle a government agency.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration made significant strides toward dismantling the Department of Education by assigning some of the agency's grant portfolio to other departments. Some of those programs include a $28 billion program that supports K-12 education, and a $3.1 billion grant that helps students complete college, according to the report.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been a key ally in Trump's mission to dismantle the Department of Education, which has been a target of conservative politicians for decades. The report indicates that McMahon has "vowed to work to dismantle it from within" and is working to find other agencies to carry out the department's functions.
"This fall, she took a first step and moved career and technical education programs, including adult education and family literacy initiatives, to the Labor Department," the report reads.
Political analysts and observers shared their takes on social media.
"Trump & McMahon are lawlessly trying to abolish the Department of Education & tear down public education in America," Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) posted on X. "They know how unpopular this plan is—that's why despite Republican majorities in Congress, they're choosing to do this ILLEGALLY."
"Dismantling the Department of Education without Congressional action is illegal," Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) posted on X. "It hurts our students, including vulnerable kids such as those with IEPs, threatens the support they are provided, and harms the education they deserve. This will not stand."
"This deeply unpopular administration lacks the votes in Congress to shut down ED," Kevin Carey, vice president of education and work at New America, said in a statement. "That’s why Secretary McMahon is creating a bureaucratic Rube Goldberg machine that will waste millions of taxpayer dollars by outsourcing vital programs to other agencies. It’s like paying a contractor double to mow your lawn and then claiming you’ve cut the home maintenance budget. It makes no sense."
"So to distract from his involvement in covering up a massive sex trafficking scandal, the president is going to...further dismantle the Education Department?" The Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf posted on Bluesky.
Read the entire report by clicking here.
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