Attorney General Josh Kaul has joined 20 other AGs in suing the Trump administration over its efforts to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.
The suit comes after President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday announced plans to lay off nearly 50% of the agency’s workforce, dropping it to less than 2,200 employees. That includes nearly 600 workers who accepted voluntary resignation or retirement. Trump has said he plans to sign an executive order to begin eliminating the department.
“The Department of Education provides numerous services that support students,” Kaul said in a statement. “Cutting those services is deeply unfair to students in Wisconsin and across the country. Their futures should be prioritized over tax cuts for billionaires.”
The lawsuit seeks to prevent the Trump administration’s actions to dismantle the department, arguing the president doesn’t have the authority to do so.
The lawsuit asserts Trump’s directive violated the separation of powers because “neither the President nor his agencies can undo the many acts of Congress that authorize the Department, dictate its responsibilities, and appropriate funds for it to administer.”
It also argues the layoffs “are an effective dismantling of the Department” and would prohibit the department from performing functions that are required by law, including administering funding for education programs to states.
State GOP spokesperson Anika Rickard said Kaul is “going against the will of voters.”
“Josh Kaul has taken up the mantle of being the Defender of DEI in Wisconsin and is going against the will of voters,” Rickard said. “President Trump, with the support of the majority of Americans, is fulfilling his promise to remove divisive DEI practices from our government.”
Gov. Tony Evers, a former teacher and state schools superintendent, said in a statement that eliminating the department would “hurt Wisconsin’s kids and our public schools, and that’s a non-starter for me.”
“Here in Wisconsin, where schools are already going to referendum every couple of years to keep their lights on and doors open due to years of attacks on our schools at the state level, gutting the Department of Education and funding for our public schools will make things even worse—it will make it harder to improve outcomes, class sizes will get even bigger, educators and staff could lose their jobs, and schools may be forced to close their doors for good,” the guv said.
