The Trump administration’s campaign to dismantle the Education Department drew a court challenge on Monday, as opponents called the plan an attempt to evade congressional authority.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Massachusetts by the American Federation of Teachers, the American Association of University Professors and a pair of public school districts in Massachusetts. It comes four days after President Trump signed an executive order that directed the education secretary, Linda McMahon, to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the department.”
The day after the order, Mr. Trump announced that the Small Business Administration would assume control of the government’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio, and that the Health and Human Services Department would oversee nutrition programs and special education services.
The Education Department, created in 1979, cannot be closed without Congress’s consent. The lawsuit argues that moves by the Trump administration since it came to power in January, including an effort to roughly halve the department’s work force, “will interfere with the department’s ability to carry out its statutorily required functions.”
Ilana Krepchin, chairwoman of the Somerville, Mass., school committee, which is a plaintiff in the case, said that the Education Department is a “cornerstone of equitable public education.”
“Dismantling it would cause real harm — not only to our students and schools, but to communities across the country,” Ms. Krepchin said.
Neither the White House nor the Education Department responded immediately to requests for comment on Monday.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Friday that the president was “doing everything within his executive authority to dismantle the Department of Education and return education back to the states while safeguarding critical functions for students and families such as student loans, special needs programs and nutrition programs.”
She added that Mr. Trump recognized that “Congress has a role to play in this effort, and we expect them to help the president deliver.”
Republicans on Capitol Hill — including Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions — have pledged to support the president’s push. But rank-and-file lawmakers are expected to face significant pressure, both for and against the plan, before any vote is held.
Charles L. Welch, the president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said last week that he was “dismayed” by Mr. Trump’s order and urged lawmakers to, in effect, defy the White House and back preserving the department.
The Education Department has limited power over what is taught in American classrooms. Its principal jobs are to distribute money to schools, enforce civil rights laws and run the federal student aid program for college students. It has historically played a large role in data collection and education research funding.
It is not clear when any legislation to close or rebuild the department might come to a vote. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed on Monday asked a judge to block the administration’s interim campaign immediately.
