Dr. Felice J. Levine, executive director of AERA.
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland's Southern Division, challenging the Department of Education's mass cancellation of research contracts and termination of approximately 90 percent of IES staff.
"Never before have there been such brazen attacks on education science, data, and research," said Dr. Felice J. Levine, executive director of AERA. "The decimation of the Institute of Education Sciences is nothing short of a fundamental harm to the education research community."
The lawsuit alleges that in February 2025, at the direction of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Department of Education canceled 89 IES contracts totaling nearly $900 million, including all contracts for the Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs). This was followed in March by a reduction in force that cut IES staffing from approximately 200 employees to just 20, leaving the National Center for Education Statistics with only three staff members.
According to the complaint, these actions have effectively rendered IES unable to fulfill its congressionally mandated functions of collecting and analyzing education data, conducting research, and disseminating findings to researchers, educators, and policymakers.
Ellen Weiss, executive director of SREE, noted that the impact is already rippling through the research community: "IES has been critical to fostering research on what works, and what does not work, and for providing this information to schools so they can best prepare students for their future."
The plaintiffs argue that the administration's actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the Education Sciences Reform Act, and multiple appropriations acts. The suit, filed by Democracy Forward, seeks immediate injunctive relief, including the reinstatement of cancelled contracts and terminated staff.
