Nevada AG blasts governor over support for dismantling Education Department

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford speaks to the Las Vegas Sun editorial board Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. Photo by Wade Vandervort

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat running for governor in 2026, isn’t holding back when discussing Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s support for effectively ending the U.S. Department of Education.

“The fact is Joe Lombardo just sold out Nevada’s kids and their futures. Our governor put Donald Trump over Nevada,” said Ford, a former public-school teacher. “It’s fewer teachers, it’s bigger class sizes and it’s the dismantling of programs for kids with special needs.”

Trump on Thursday directed the Department of Education to shut down everything but “core necessities.”

The president is transferring the department’s student loan programs to the Small Business Administration, while the Department of Health and Human Services will be “handling special needs and all of the nutrition programs,” he said.

Ford said he doesn’t believe Trump when he says those programs will be protected by moving them. Some 60,000 students in Nevada with disabilities will have their funding “drastically cut,” he said.

“Pell grants for 41,000 students will be put on the chopping block. We are talking about thousands of kids who will no longer be able to pay for college that are already attending thanks to Joe Lombardo,” Ford said.

Lombardo wrote Thursday for the right-wing news outlet Breitbart that Trump “has boldly reimagined what education can — and should — look like in our country.”

“The role of government should be to empower, not over-regulate, and this move will allow for a more localized, innovative, and accountable approach to education that truly serves the needs of our students, families, and educators,” Lombardo said.

Lombardo said states will be able to “retool” high schools for better work experience with Trump’s decision and that federal mandates had “tied our hands and prevented us from implementing school choice programs that empower families.”