A federal judge has temporarily barred Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing federal student loan and financial aid information stored at the U.S. Department of Education.
Both sides of the lawsuit—a group of students at the University of California (UC) and the Education Department—have agreed to the halt as they prepare arguments.
UC students a week ago accused the Education Department of violating the Privacy Act of 1974, a federal law that restricts federal agencies from sharing personally identifiable information with third parties unless specific legal exceptions apply.
For example, the FUTURE Act of 2019 authorizes the Education Department to import tax return information from the IRS to streamline the financial aid application process.
“Because [the Department’s] actions and decisions are shrouded in secrecy, individuals do not have even basic information about what personal or financial information Defendants are sharing with outside parties or how their information is being used,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit comes amid growing uncertainty over the future of the Education Department, which operates on a multi-hundred-billion-dollar budget and oversees $1.5 trillion in federal student loans owed by more than 42 million Americans.
Speaking about his nominee for secretary of education, Linda McMahon, Trump said he hoped she would eliminate her own position and return control of education to individual states.
“We spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, and we’re ranked near the bottom, we rank very badly,” Trump told reporters on Feb. 4 in the White House. “What I want to do is let the states run schools—I believe strongly in school choice—but in addition to that, I want the states to run schools.
“I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.’ I want her to make the Education Department unnecessary.”
McMahon’s Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
