Colorado joins 20 states in suing Trump administration over U.S. Department of Education cuts
Colorado's attorney general has joined 20 other states in suing the president's administration to stop what they call the "illegal dismantling" of the U.S. Department of Education.
Attorney General Weiser joined Democrat state attorneys general to file suit after the Trump administration's move to terminate nearly half the agency's staff, claiming the cuts will prevent the department from carrying out its duties.
"If the president essentially starves the department, leaving it with no resources to carry out its function, you might say, well, formally, the department is still there," said Weiser. "But if, practically, the department can't do its job, can't carry out its legal mandates, then, in effect, it has been shut down. That's not the role of the president. That's for Congress to decide."
"The executive branch has to carry out the laws and when they go ahead and terminate people, willy nilly, without any road map or understanding of all the negative consequences," Weiser added. "That means, practically speaking, you're ending programs that are mandated by Congress."
The Democrat AG believes the move towards a Department of Education shutdown is only going to hurt Coloradans, and won't improve government efficiency at all.
"I would love to see a true commitment to improving how the federal government functions," said Weiser. "But it is straining any belief I can have that this incredibly disorganized, chaotic, and in some cases very robust shuttering of offices has a efficiency element to it."
While Democrat leaders oppose the Trump Administration's latest move, Republicans such as former GOP chair and Colorado Board of Education member Kristi Burton Brown support it.
"I think any time you dismantle bureaucracy, you return more power to the state level and the local levels," said Burton Brown. "So that means there's fewer hands that dollars pass through on the way into our classrooms and for our teachers. It also means that there's less regulations, sometimes that states and local governments have to comply with, and regulations often get in the way of our students performing well in school. So, whenever you can dismantle bureaucracy, get money straight down to the states and local districts, you have more money showing up in the classrooms where our kids really need it."
Burton Brown believes these cuts aimed to move education from federal to state control will result in more funding toward classrooms.
"I think a lot of times people love to look at extreme headlines or extreme positions they think the other side has instead of actually looking at the nitty gritty, the actual wording, the actual executive order, the actual law being considered," said Burton Brown. "And I just encourage everyone who supports education, who wants our kids to achieve better in school, who wants teachers to be paid more, to look at what's actually going on. And again, anytime you cut admin and bureaucracy, you infuse more dollars and more focus into the classroom and for the teachers."
Different sides of the aisle disagree whether this will ultimately harm or help students, but still, the attorneys general on this lawsuit claim only Congress has the legal authority to abolish the department. And, it's unlikely Republicans would have the votes to pass this type of legislation.
