As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign an executive order Thursday directing officials to shut down the Department of Education, Democratic politicians, teachers and communities across the nation are vowing legal and other challenges to the move.

Trump is set to check off a longtime Republican wish list item by signing a directive ordering Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states.”

Shutting down the department—which was created in 1979 to ensure equitable access to public education and employs more than 4,000 people—will require an act of Congress, both houses of which are controlled by Republicans.

“Trump and his Cabinet of billionaires are trying to destroy the Department of Education so they can privatize more schools.”

Thursday’s expected order follows the department’s
announcement earlier this month that it would fire half of its workforce. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and more than three dozen Democratic senators condemned the move and Trump’s impending Department of Education shutdown as “a national disgrace.”

Abolishing the Department of Education is one of the top goals of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led roadmap for a far-right takeover and gutting of the federal government
closely linked to Trump, despite his unconvincing efforts to distance himself from the highly controversial plan.

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.)
called Trump’s bid to abolish the Department of Education “more bullshit” and vowed to fight the president’s “illegal behavior until the cows come home.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
said on social media: “Trump and his Cabinet of billionaires are trying to destroy the Department of Education so they can privatize more schools. The result: making it even harder to ensure that ALL students have access to a quality education. Another outrageous, illegal scam. We will fight this.”

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat,
warned that “ending the U.S. Department of Education will decimate our education system and devastate families across the country.”

“Support for students with special needs and those in rural and urban schools will be gone,” he added. “We will stop at nothing to protect N.J. and fight this reckless action.”

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA)—the nation’s largest labor union—said in a
statement Thursday that “Donald Trump and Elon Musk have aimed their wrecking ball at public schools and the futures of the 50 million students in rural, suburban, and urban communities across America, by dismantling public education to pay for tax handouts for billionaires.”

Musk—the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—is the world’s richest person. Trump and McMahon are also billionaires.

“If successful, Trump’s continued actions will hurt all students by sending class sizes soaring, cutting job training programs, making higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, taking away special education services for students with disabilities, and gutting student civil rights protections,” Pringle warned.

“This morning, in hundreds of communities across the nation, thousands of families, educators, students, and community leaders joined together outside of neighborhood public schools to rally against taking away resources and support for our students,” she continued. “And, we are just getting started. Every day we are growing our movement to protect our students and public schools.”

“We won’t be silent as anti-public education politicians try to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires,” Pringle added. “Together with parents and allies, we will continue to organize, advocate, and mobilize so that all students have well-resourced schools that allow every student to grow into their full brilliance.”

National Parents Union president Keri Rodrigues said that closing the Department of Education would disproportionately affect the most vulnerable students and communities.

“Let’s be clear: Before federal oversight, millions of children—particularly those with disabilities and those from our most vulnerable communities—were denied the opportunities they deserved,” Rodrigues
said in a statement. “The Department of Education was created to ensure that every child, regardless of background or ZIP code, has access to a public education that prepares them for their future. Eliminating it would roll back decades of progress, leaving countless children behind in an education system that has historically failed the most marginalized.”

The ACLU is circulating a
petition calling on Congress to “save the Department of Education.”

“The Department of Education has an enormous effect on the day-to-day lives of students across the country,” the petition states. “They are tasked with protecting civil rights on campus and ensuring that every student—regardless of where they live; their family’s income; or their race, sex, gender identity, or disability—has equal access to education.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers,
responded to Trump’s looming order in four words: “See you in court.”