ICYMI: Senator Murray Statement on Trump’s Latest Steps to Keep Illegally Dismantling the Department of Education—Abandoning Students Nationwide
***FULL VIDEO HERE, PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE***
Seattle, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a roundtable discussion at North Seattle College with parents, advocates, and education leaders in Washington state to discuss the many ways President Trump and his administration are attacking Americans’ public education and trying to illegally abolish the U.S. Department of Education—from terminating important grants to hollowing out the Department of Education and, now, spinning off key functions to other agencies.
This week, the Trump administration announced plans to further dismantle the Department of Education—the only federal agency solely focused ensuring children can get a quality education—by transferring the administration of key Department functions administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Office of Postsecondary Education, the Office of Indian Education, and various other programs to federal agencies with little to no expertise in education.
Joining Senator Murray for the roundtable discussion were: Dr. Rachel Solemsaas, President of North Seattle College; Gina Topp, Seattle School Board President; Melinda Dyer, former Assistant Director of Homeless Education at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI); Rachel Gittleman, President of AFGE Local 252 which represents Department of Education employees—and a former Ed employee herself whose office was RIFed this year; and Ann Simonson, a Seattle-area mom of a young adult daughter with disabilities.
“Trump and Secretary McMahon know their plan to get rid of the Department of Education is deeply unpopular. It could never pass Congress—even with Republicans in control. So they decided to forget about our laws and just do everything they possibly can to destroy the Department on their own,” said Senator Murray. “Since March, Trump has fired or pushed out about half of all employees at the Department. They’ve left critical offices with barely enough staff to keep the lights on. Not only have they gotten rid of the people who keep the Department running, but they have also cut off billions in funding our students and schools depend on. And this week, they went another step further by basically trying to spin off entire Department of Education offices and programs to other agencies who don’t have the expertise to administer them—disrupting programs that support some of our most vulnerable students. We’re talking about offices that are responsible for supporting the effective use of tens of billions of dollars distributed to states, providing grants to make college more accessible, and enforcing federal education law. There are real stakes to this kind of chaos—our students’ futures are on the line. I’m going to keep doing everything I can to fight back against Trump’s attacks on public education and lift up the voices of people who know firsthand how important it is that we have a functioning Department of Education to stand up for students in this country.”
A former preschool teacher and local school board member herself, Senator Murray has been a longtime champion for education and believes that every student deserves a high-quality public education and access to an affordable higher education. Senator Murray has been leading the fight in Congress to push back against President Trump’s reckless efforts to abolish the Department of Education and hurt students and families nationwide. Over the last few months, Senator Murray has:
- Strongly opposed Linda McMahon’s nomination to be Secretary of Education right at the outset—and encouraged her colleagues to do the same, arguing: “We Cannot Have a Secretary of Education Who Doesn’t Believe in Having a Secretary of Education.”
- Forcefully warned of President Trump’s plans to illegally abolish the Department of Education—and raised alarm bells about the steps he’s taken to do just that, including by hosting a forum on Trump’s decimation of the Department and demanding a halt to the administration’s illegal plans to transfer key Department of Education responsibilities to other departments.
- Slamming President Trump and Secretary McMahon’s mass firings that have hollowed out the Department and weakened support for students, teachers, and families across the country—including at the Office for Civil Rights—and holding Secretary McMahon’s feet to the fire over the firings.
- Demanding the reversal of a policy that prevents funding from reaching schools nationwide.
- Blasting President Trump’s budget request to slash education funding.
- Holding key Department of Education nominees to account.
- Leading the charge to push the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in funding for K-12 schools and adult education programs that it had been blocking for weeks.
- Calling out the Department of Education’s abrupt, unilateral decision to slash or eliminate key funding for teacher training, magnet schools, minority-serving institutions of higher education, and international education programs to instead fund its own priorities.
“Any proposal that disrupts the core and essential services of the Department of Education sends a message to students that their future does not matter. Education is the foundation of a strong economy and thriving communities. Undermining that foundation hurts everyone: businesses, families, and the next generation of leaders. Because when we invest in education, we invest in hope, in opportunity, and in the strength of our nation,” said Rachel Solemsaas, EdD, President of North Seattle College.
“Parents and families don’t want political chaos—they want schools that work,” said Gina Topp, President, Seattle School Board. “We need a federal partner that wants to strengthen public education, instead of tearing it apart. Because, without a functioning Department of Education, our Title I funding is at risk, special education support is at risk, civil protections are at risk, technical assistance and oversight disappear, and the highest-need students are the ones who are going to lose the most.”
“Because the program I worked in for 30 years is directly tied to the U.S. Department of Education, I can speak to the efficiency, the kindness, the dedication, the effectiveness of the staff that work at the Department of Education and what an insult it is to those hardworking individuals that this effort to dismantle the Department of Ed has been happening. To my knowledge, the Department of Labor doesn’t have a lot of connection to the education of homeless children and youth, and that is the program that I worked in for many, many years,” said Melinda Dyer, former Assistant Director of Homeless Education at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). “The McKinney-Vento program is the only federal program that is dedicated to providing access to school for students who are experiencing homelessness… This year, when we did a competition for McKinney-Vento grant funding, we had 84 school districts that applied. That’s more than twice the number of districts that typically apply for this funding. Districts need the money, they want to support the kids, they want to be able to pay their local school district liaisons. These kinds of services and supports are in jeopardy. Without direct support from the Department of Ed, our vulnerable children and families will be harmed because the oversight of programs will be shifted to agencies that are unfamiliar with the federal protections of the McKinney-Vento Act… It is very nuanced. This is not the kind of program that you can plug into a different agency that is not familiar with the work.”
“The U.S. Department of Education and its hardworking staff deliver vital resources and support to students and families across the country, from early learning through graduate programs. The Department’s flagship programs are specifically designed to serve those historically underserved by our education system — including students of color, low- and moderate-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, and students in rural communities. Yet the Trump Administration has shown it will stop at nothing — not even ignoring court orders or violating federal law — to dismantle the Department and undermine the careers of thousands of dedicated public servants who work every day to support students and families,” said Rachel Gittleman, President of AFGE Local 252, which represents Department of Education employees. Rachel is also a former Ed employee who worked in the Ombudsman’s Office of Federal Student Aid, before her office was RIFed this year. “Students, families and communities are the ones paying the price for this.”
Ann Simonson, a Seattle-area mom whose youngest daughter, Erika, has Tuberous Sclerosis, said: “Erika has been a student in the Seattle Public Schools since kindergarten, and she graduated from Franklin High School a year and a half ago. During those years we were well aware of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, passed in 1975, which guarantees Erika an education—a free and appropriate education. We knew that it was the Department of Ed that supported and enforced the IDEA. When Erika was in 2nd grade, we had enough trouble to cause us to consult a lawyer, which we could do because of the IDEA, we knew we had the law on our side, and we knew the Department of Ed had our backs.” Ann also spoke about how her husband works for the Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), which receives 80 percent of its funding from the Rehabilitation Services Administration, which falls under the Department of Education. “There is the fear that cuts will affect the agency and their ability to do their work,” Ann continued. “DVR helps an enormous portion of our society find jobs—people with disabilities like Erika, and people who’ve had accidents which cause disabilities, people struggling with mental health issues…. The threat to the Department of Ed is a threat to people. What has happened to us as a nation if we can rip programs for people like Erika out from under her? What has happened to us as a people, where is our humanity? Where is our care for those less fortunate than us?”
According to data compiled by AFGE, under Trump, the Department of Education has gone from 4,000 employees in January 2025, to 2,700 as of today—through thoughtless mass firings, buyouts, and early retirements. Six offices within ED have been moved either entirely or partially to other federal agencies, agencies that don’t have the expertise or historical infrastructure to handle ED requests and needs. Billions in grant funds to state and local organizations have been canceled, blocked, or delayed. In July, $6.8 billion in formula funding was withheld from states for weeks, leaving school districts scrambling. ED has a $268 billion total budget, with $160 billion of that going toward federal student aid.
When Trump threatens that funding and carelessly cuts thousands of employees, he is putting millions of students and families’ public education and support services at risk:
- 26 million students from low-income backgrounds served under Title I of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
- 9.8 million students enrolled in rural schools
- 7.4 million students with disabilities served by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
- 5 million English learner students served under Title III of ESEA
- 1.1 million students experiencing homelessness served by the McKinney-Vento program
- Nearly 800,000 children living near military bases, Native American reservations, and other Federal properties served by Impact Aid
- More than 1 million students served in Full-Service Community Schools
- 200,000 students served by 21st Century Community Learning Centers
- 87 million students and parents receiving federal student aid
- 6.6 million Pell Grant recipients
- 8.1 million secondary and 3.3 million postsecondary students served in Perkins career technical education
- 1.2 million out-of-school youth and adult learners served under Title II of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
- 870,000 first generation and low-income students served under the college accessibility program, TRIO.
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