A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to reinstate more than 1,300 U.S. Department of Education employees.
“The Department must be able to carry out its functions and its obligations,” as well as “other relevant statutes as mandated by Congress,” U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston wrote in the preliminary injunction.
The Department of Education announced a reduction in force on March 11 that would have gutted the agency’s staff by a half.
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Two days later, 21 states — including Michigan, Nevada and New York — filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its staff cuts at the Education Department.
After President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 20 aimed at dismantling the Education Department, more parties sued to save the agency, including the American Federation of Teachers.
‘Good news for students’
In the injunction on Thursday, the judge pointed out that the staff cuts led to the closure of seven out of 12 offices tasked with the enforcement of civil rights, including protecting students from discrimination on the basis of race and disability.
The entire team that supervises the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, was also eliminated, the judge said. (Around 17 million families apply for college aid each year using the form, according to higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.)
“This is good news for students,” said James Kvaal, who served as U.S. undersecretary of education for former President Joe Biden. “Colleges are already warning that these mass layoffs put financial aid at risk, and millions of borrowers need help avoiding loan default later this year.”
Thursday’s ruling also seemed to block the Trump administration’s goal of transferring the country’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio to the Small Business Administration from the Education Department, said Kantrowitz.
Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the Education Department, slammed the decision.
“Once again, a far-left Judge has dramatically overstepped his authority, based on a complaint from biased plaintiffs, and issued an injunction against the obviously lawful efforts to make the Department of Education more efficient and functional for the American people,” Biedermann wrote in a statement to CNBC.
She added that the Trump administration would be challenging the ruling on an emergency basis.
Former President Jimmy Carter established the current-day U.S. Department of Education in 1979. Since then, the agency has faced other existential threats, with former President Ronald Reagan calling for its end and Trump, during his first term, attempting to merge it with the Labor Department.
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