A coalition of educators, school districts, unions and an advocacy organization for people with disabilities sued the Trump administration in federal court on Tuesday, arguing that the government’s latest attempt to dismantle the Education Department was unlawful.
The lawsuit challenges the far-reaching changes announced last week by Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who signed agreements to effectively offload the management of some of her department’s important functions to other federal agencies.
The education coalition argues in its lawsuit that the annual appropriations law approved by Congress requires the Education Department to carry out its programs and that Ms. McMahon lacks the authority to shift these functions to other federal agencies.
Spokesmen for the Education Department and the White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
The coalition made its argument in an amended complaint as part of a continuing lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The initial lawsuit, filed in March, was aimed at blocking Mr. Trump’s attempt to effectively abolish the Education Department, which can be closed only by an act of Congress.
The judge in that case, Myong J. Joun, temporarily halted the administration from firing more than a thousand workers in the department while the lawsuit worked its way through the courts. But in July, the Supreme Court reversed that ruling, allowing the administration to cut the agency’s staff in half.
The initial complaint was filed by the Somerville Public School Committee, the Easthampton School District, the American Federation of Teachers, AFT Massachusetts, AFSCME Council 93, the American Association of University Professors and the Service Employees International Union. The plaintiffs’ coalition, represented by Democracy Forward, a liberal-leaning legal nonprofit involved in dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration, now also includes the Arc of the United States, a disability rights organization.
Michael C. Bender is a Times correspondent in Washington.
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