OLYMPIA—March 20, 2025—The Trump Administration has made it no secret that one of their key priorities is to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education (Department). Today, the President signed an executive order attempting to do just that.

The Department was created by Congress in 1979 and can only legally be dissolved through an act of Congress. The President’s order directs U.S. Secretary of Education McMahon to take steps to facilitate the closure of the Department, including cutting programs and resources within the Department.

For decades, the Department has aimed to support our nation's students who are furthest from educational equality––students experiencing poverty, students with disabilities, and multilingual/English learners. The Department’s longstanding Office for Civil Rights has remained steadfast in its responsibility for ensuring all young people in America have equitable access to a high-quality public education.

Combined with the massive layoffs of Department staff, today’s order underscores the President’s disregard of public education and civil rights. It is not yet clear the extent of the harm that will occur with the dismantling of these important federal programs that work in tandem with my office’s enforcement authority.

In Washington state, our Legislature has instituted civil rights protections for students above and beyond the federal minimum protections, and no order by the President will diminish our state’s obligation or moral imperative to serve and support all students.  

There is no doubt that some of the federal education overreach pushed by presidents of both parties over the last 25 years must be scaled back and brought back to the states. However, that is a policy deliberation that should happen in Congress, and in partnership with the states themselves—not as part of an unprecedented attempt by a President to wield more authority than is granted by the U.S. Constitution or by federal law.

What we are seeing in Washington, D.C. is a cruel chaos that has been intentionally designed to promote a school privatization agenda and undo a 60-year commitment to equity and civil rights that lies at the heart of our democratic system. In other states, that agenda has led to greater divides between student groups along socioeconomic and racial lines.

The promise of public education has been the engine that has driven our country to prosperity for two centuries, and public education is a powerful common good for communities across America. It is clear that the reduction of federal funding and the privatization of our school system will be most damaging in rural communities, and this is a fight that every American needs to lean into.

In Washington state, and states across America, legislators need to be prepared to double down on their public education investments as the Department and this administration prepare to walk away from their civil rights obligations and the nearly 250-year commitment to public education that has actually made America great!

The federal funding heat map below shows federal funding as a percentage of total K–12 funding in the 2023–24 school year, with one-time federal emergency relief funds removed. School districts shown in green receive federal funds below the statewide average of 6.95%, while those shown in red receive federal funds above the statewide average.