Ford says Trump lacks authority to dismantle Department of Education

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford offered a defense of his latest legal attack against the Trump administration Friday, arguing that only Congress, not the president, has the authority to dismantle the Department of Education.

“Mr. Trump is the president. He has the right to implement his plans and his policies and his promises and his platform, but he must do so lawfully, and when he does not, we will meet him in court,” the Democratic attorney general said in a news conference Friday on his recent litigation seeking to block the administration’s shuttering of the education department.

The news conference came just days after Gov. Joe Lombardo defended Trump’s plans to close the longstanding federal department and return “power over education to families instead of bureaucracies.”

Created by an act of Congress in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, the Department of Education coordinates federal assistance to education and assists the president in executing his education policies and in implementing laws enacted by Congress.

Critics of the department have long wanted to limit the federal government’s role in education, while supporters say the department has worked to expand educational opportunities to all citizens.

Ford joined in seeking a preliminary injunction earlier this week with 20 other attorneys general in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts as part of their ongoing lawsuit to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education.

The attorneys general are seeking a court order to stop the mass layoffs and transfer of services from the Department of Education to other agencies. A federal judge will hold a hearing April 25.

“Let me be clear, the president does not have the authority to tear down an entire federal agency just because he doesn’t like it,” Ford said. “Congress created the Department of Education. It exists to carry out the law that Congress has passed, and unless Congress says otherwise, it stays.”

A Department of Education spokesperson said in a statement the sunsetting of the department will be done in partnership with Congress and national state leaders “to ensure all statutorily required programs are managed responsibly and where they best serve students and families.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon also said in an op-ed she will work with Congress to eliminate and relocate Department of Education operations.

Ford does not think Trump has the votes to get Congress’ help, however.

AGs argue cuts would incapacitate education services

Nevada’s attorney general, who said he plans to run for governor against Lombardo in 2026, has entered into a swath of legal battles against the Trump administration, which the governor called “unfortunate” in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Ford maintains this latest lawsuit is to defend the residents of Nevada, which received nearly $6 billion in funding from the Department of Education in the last five years, he said.

Those funds include Pell grants for 41,000 students, $38 million for career and technical education, $315 million in special education services for nearly 60,000 students with disabilities and $3.5 million for homeless youth education, Ford said.

It also provides “lifeline funding” for rural school districts that serve one out of every 11 students in Nevada, he said.

Ford highlighted his own background in the public school system as a math teacher and his experience in a Department of Education-funded program called Project Upward Bound, which provides educational opportunities for low-income and first-generation college students.

“If it weren’t for that program, I wouldn’t be where I am,” Ford said.

In the recent complaint, the plaintiffs wrote that the Department of Education maintains a staff of 4,133 people. Cutting 50 percent, which the Department of Education announced its intent to do in March, would incapacitate key functions of the department and harm states, the attorneys general argue.

They plaintiffs also pointed to failed attempts in the past to eliminate the Department of Education. President Ronald Reagan sought legislation to dismantle the department, but Congress did not pass it.

Trump and the Department of Education assert it will continue to deliver on its statutory programs, but Ford said he doubts the standards of the services will remain the same.

DoE Lawsuit by Jessica Hill on Scribd

Change to the status quo

For years, Nevada consistently ranks poorly in education, and supporters of the dismantling of the department say it will only help the Silver State.

Nevada resident Valeria Gurr, a senior fellow with the conservative American Federation for Children and a school choice advocate, said the Department of Education hasn’t helped Nevada, and nobody has been willing to bring change to the state’s education system.

“I don’t know how anyone can condone the same things we’ve been doing for decades,” she said.

Gurr thinks that some of $218 billion in the department’s operation costs can go back to Nevada, which can use the funds to increase teacher salaries, reduce classroom sizes and bring about school choice.

She called the attorney general’s legal challenge “political theater” and said he is using it to “scare the community” rather than encourage a real discussion about how to use the funding at the local level.

Ford said he agrees that the status quo isn’t working, but he doesn’t think the answer is to get rid of the federal department.

“I am a former educator; I’ve been in classrooms,” he said. “I know we need better funding for our schools. I know we need more accountability for parents getting involved. I know we need more of our students to be more engaged. I know we need teachers who are paid adequately. I understand that there are dynamics at stake here that need to be addressed.”

But those dynamics do not encompass dismantling the Department of Education that provides services to rural communities, homeless students and disabled students, he said.

“And so I push back on those who would say that dismantling the Department of Education is the way to change the status quo,” he said. “There are other ways to do that, and I look forward to engaging in conversations around making that happen.”

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.