Trump’s order to dismantle education department sparks outrage: ‘see you in court’

Teachers unions and Democratic politicians joined in denouncing Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at eliminating the US Department of Education, with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) saying simply: “See you in court.”

Trump’s move was long trailed, so much so that Randi Weingarten, the head of the AFT – which represents 1.8 million teachers – put out her statement the day before the order was signed. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, which represents 200,000 members, teachers and other education workers mostly in New York City, said: “We will join our national union and public education allies to protect students and educators. We are working with our partners to file lawsuits to stop this executive overreach.

“In the meantime, we will hold the federal government accountable for providing the resources our school communities have been promised under the laws of our country.”

Related: Trump signs executive order to dismantle US Department of Education

Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, said: “Trump is telling America’s public school kids that their futures don’t matter.”

Referencing Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, whose drastic cuts to federal budgets and staffing are prompting outrage, Warren said: “Billionaires like Trump and Musk won’t feel it when afterschool programs are slashed, class sizes go up, and student aid gets cut. It’ll be working parents, students, and teachers who pay the price.”

Rashida Tlaib, a congresswoman from Michigan, said Trump’s order was “really alarming to me because the majority of Americans will tell you they don’t want to give up on the Department of Education, they don’t want to give up on our education system”.

Polling shows the majority of people in the US oppose dismantling the Department of Education.

This week, a survey from the advocacy group New America found 55% of respondents against eliminating the department. Another group, Third Way released a poll showing majority support among Republicans for issues including improved accountability for federal funding in higher education – a core responsibility of the education department.

Eliminating the department has long been a goal of some parts of the Republican right. On Friday, Margaret Spellings, education secretary under George W Bush, who expanded the department’s role, told the Associated Press that Republicans in Congress traditionally voiced support for elimination while voting against it, mindful of how federal funds reach schools in their districts.

“It was always a little bit of a wink and a nod deal,” Spellings said. “Donald Trump has called the bluff.”

The Department of Education’s role is primarily financial, dispensing federal funds nationwide. It also upholds civil rights protections such as Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination.

Trump’s order will not eliminate the department entirely. Created by Congress in 1972, it can only be eliminated by the same body.

John King Jr, who was education secretary under Barack Obama, told NBC: “I think what you’re going to see is bipartisan support in Congress for maintaining the vital functions of the department” – including, he said, “directing resources to vulnerable students, low income students and students with disabilities, funding the Pell grant program and the student loan program that makes it possible for Americans to access higher education, and civil rights enforcement, which has been the historical role of the department”.

After Trump signed his order, Linda McMahon, the wrestling impresario turned education secretary charged with wrecking her own department, hailed what she called a “history-making action” and said: “We are sending education back to the states where it so rightly belongs.”

King called that “a rhetorical move”. He continued: “The reality is that most decision making about education happens at the state and local level, but there is a crucial federal role that goes back to the civil rights movement … Laws were put in place because we needed the federal government to step in to make sure that students weren’t discriminated against, and that role continues.

“We need the federal government to say to a state: ‘You can’t ignore the needs of your English learners.’ To say to a district: ‘You can’t leave Black students or Latino students out of access to advanced placement classes or extracurricular activities at your school. That civil rights role has to be protected.”