We are willing to bet that when Charity Clark decided she wanted to run for attorney general in Vermont, she never imagined she would be taking issue — check that, issues — with the president of the United States.
Yet, that’s where we are.
This week, Clark joined 20 Democratic attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to stop dismantling the Department of Education and protect students. Two days prior, the Education Department fired more than 1,300 workers, purging individuals who administer grants and track student achievement across America. It halved the department.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement that the “reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”
The coalition of attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James, sued the administration in a Massachusetts federal court, claiming that the dismissals were “illegal and unconstitutional.” Joining Clark and James in filing the lawsuit are attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
The attorneys general argued that the executive branch “does not have the legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle it without an act of Congress.”
The cuts announced this week would have “devastating effects,” they said. The Education Department serves nearly 18,200 districts and more than 50 million students nationwide, attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools, they said. The department’s funds support programs for special education — in public and private schools — and students in rural communities.
They stated that they aim to stop the targeted destruction of this critical federal agency that ensures tens of millions of students receive a quality education and critical resources.
“The U.S. Department of Education’s impact on Vermont’s children and young adults is tremendous,” said Clark in a prepared statement. “The Trump Administration’s reckless disregard for these children and young adults is disappointing. It is wrong to violate the constitution or federal law in the name of false efficiency.”
The cuts could have direct impacts on Vermont. According to a news release, students with disabilities and students from low-income families are some of the primary beneficiaries of Education Department services and funding. Federal Education Department funds for special education include support for assistive technology for students with disabilities, teacher salaries and benefits, transportation to help children receive the services and programming they need, physical therapy and speech therapy services, and social workers to help manage students’ educational experience. The Education Department also supports students in rural communities by offering programs designed to help rural school districts that often lack the personnel and resources needed to compete for competitive grants, according to the news release.
The cuts to the Education Department’s staff will cause a delay in “nearly every aspect” of the K-12 education in their states, the attorneys general argued in their lawsuit. Therefore, the coalition is seeking a court order to stop what it called “policies to dismantle” the agency, arguing that the layoffs are just a first step toward its destruction.
The department is an executive agency authorized by Congress, with numerous different laws creating its various programs and funding streams. The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the Executive Branch does not have the legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle it without an act of Congress.
The Trump administration argued the Democratic attorneys general are simply playing politics.
“All of President Trump’s executive actions are lawful, constitutional and intended to deliver on the promises he made to the American people,” White House Spokesman Harrison Fields is quoted in The New York Times. “Partisan elected officials and judicial activists who seek to legally obstruct President Trump’s agenda are defying the will of 77 million Americans who overwhelmingly re-elected President Trump, and their efforts will fail.”
But the coalition is pushing back on the White House, arguing the administration is the one playing politics with the future of the nation.
“The administration’s lay-off is so massive that the Education Department will be incapacitated and unable to perform essential functions. As the lawsuit asserts, the administration’s actions will deprive students with special needs of critical resources and support. They will gut the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which protects students from discrimination and sexual assault. They would additionally hamstring the processing of financial aid, raising costs for college and university students who will have a harder time accessing loans, Pell grants, and work study programs,” according to a news release.
We do not take issue with the Trump administration looking for efficiencies across all agencies. That has been a theme for generations. But like Clark and the other attorneys general, however, we question the methodology, the constitutionality, and the chaotic nature with which these wide-ranging decisions are being made.
The Trump administration has dealt crippling blows to several departments, including the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Leading should be done thoughtfully and with consensus building along the way. Compromise, by its nature, forces all parties to sacrifice. It is not about winning and losing, or all or nothing. Sound leadership should not include harming the nation and the well-being of our citizens for the sake of making political allies.
A decision like this one will affect everyone, including families that supported Trump.
We are grateful Clark is pushing back, and using the tenets of law to make amends. In the maelstrom that is today’s America, we need leaders to take issue and help to keep some stability.
Go to ago.vermont.gov/ago-actions for more information on the other actions taken by Clark on behalf of Vermonters.