Ranking Member Scott Hosts Event on Consequences of Dismantling the Department of Education

Ranking Member Scott Hosts Event on Consequences of Dismantling the Department of Education

WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, hosted a rogue event on the impact of the Trump administration's decision to dismantle the Department of Education (ED) and what's at stake for students, schools, and parents. The Trump administration's illegal dismantling of the ED has already proven inefficient and wasteful, and has negatively impacted student success.

The Members were joined by Ray Li, Policy Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), Augustus Mays, Vice President for Partnerships and Engagement at EdTrust, Ashley Harrington, Senior Policy Counsel at NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), and Rachel Homer, Director of Democracy 2025 and Senior Attorney at Democracy Forward.

Watch the event on YouTube.

Ranking Member Scott delivered the following opening remarks:

"Good afternoon, and I want to thank everyone for being here.

"Public education is facing one attack after another. Since returning to office last January, President Trump has worked to dismantle the Department of Education (ED), which is not a surprise because it was outlined on page 319 of Project 2025. Potentially, what's more offensive about the entire effort is that Congressional Republicans have just totally abdicated their Article I responsibilities and oversight to check what's going on.

"One core function of the Department of Education is to protect and defend students' civil rights. The federal government must retain its central role in enforcing students' civil rights because, historically, when states had no federal oversight, we saw the outright segregation of public schools, a refusal to educate students with disabilities, and a lack of resources for low-income communities. Since January 2025, nearly half of the staff at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) have been fired, and seven of the twelve regional offices around the country have been closed. Without OCR functioning at full capacity, students and families have had their cases abandoned and have been left without recourse to combat discrimination. In fact, ED has not resolved a sexual harassment or discrimination investigation since Trump returned to office.

"Weeks after the Trump administration returned to the White House, the administration fired nearly half of the staff at ED, sabotaging the Department's ability to fulfill its purpose to ensure that all students in America have equal access to a high-quality education. Many of these actions were blocked by courts, and the staff was retained, but the Department prohibited them from coming to work. This means valuable staff time went unutilized. According to a recent GAO report, these firings cost American taxpayers over $28 million in staff [costs] in the Office for Civil Rights. People who [are] on staff, being paid, not coming to work

"One of the offices hardest hit was the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which oversees education research and data collection. As of today, IES has only a handful of employees conducting research on learning trends, achievement gaps, and whether students are attending college, compared to nearly 200 that were on staff before these cuts.

"In addition to firing staff, the Secretary of Education is attempting to offload core responsibilities across other federal agencies through legally dubious interagency agreements. Illegal transfers of these programs is not only extremely inefficient and wasteful, but it will also result in inconsistent enforcement of federal education policy.

"Over and over again, the administration has circumvented the law to hamstring the future of public education without the consent of Congress or the American people. Democrats are committed to fighting back against this war on education and securing a better future for our students.

"That is why I am so grateful to have leaders join the fight to discuss how we can protect public education.

"I would first like to welcome Ray Li, who currently serves as a Policy Counsel for education equity at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF). Prior to joining LDF, he served as an attorney in the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

"We are also joined by Augustus Mays, EdTrust's Vice President for Partnerships and Engagement. Prior to joining EdTrust, Augustus served as the director of policy and outreach at WestEd.

"We are also joined by Ashley Harrington, Senior Policy Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF). Prior to joining LDF, she served as a Senior Advisor at the Department of Education.

"And finally, we welcome Rachel Homer, who serves as the Director of Democracy 2025 and Senior Attorney at Democracy Forward. Prior to joining Democracy Forward, she served as the Chief of Staff of the Office of the General Counsel at the Department of Education.

"Thank you all so much for joining us today so we can discuss what they've been doing and what we can do about it."

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