WORCESTER, Mass. - Worcester Public Schools is named a declarant in a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration's attempted dismantling of the Department of Education. 

Superintendent Rachel Monárrez says the assistance they get from the department is a necessity, and eliminating or cutting back the department will have direct impacts on children.

The Worcester School Committee voting 6 to 2 in executive session last week to become a declarant in this suit. The superintendent saying Wednesday the dismantling of the DOE is not just unjust, but it's illegal, saying the DOE can only be undone by an act of Congress.

The superintendent not mincing any words, saying there's a high level of concern inside the Worcester administration building.

"When it is no longer in existence, then we wonder how does that play itself out into what will happen for our children each and every day," said Monárrez.

"We'd have to find the money, and figure out how to do it," said Mayor Joe Petty. "And I don't think we can find $50 million."

Monárrez and Petty say students would immediately feel the impacts should the department be dismantled. Monárrez says the district receives roughly $53 million from federal sources, accounting for 9% of their annual budget. But, she said there is yet to be any determination on whether or not that funding is disappearing.

"You know, things are said, and something else is said on a different day," said Monárrez. So it's hard to know exactly what that's going to look like just based off the actions that we see."

The lawsuit was filed by nonprofit Democracy Forward on behalf of Somerville and Easthampton Public Schools among others. 

Monárrez points to federal funds as a crucial part of the district's programming, supporting things like early childhood education, school meals, direct support for students with disabilities, and much more.

Mayor Petty says their involvement in this lawsuit is an attempt to keep children and families at the forefront while also protecting hundreds of local teachers.

"Title one. We have instructional coaches; we have special ed teachers, Petty said. "About 400 teacher, special ed teachers are impacted by the doe. Also, it involves discrimination issues."

The Trump administration announced the proposed closure with an executive order last month, saying it would quote: '...provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them.' The administration also saying American reading and math scores are near historical lows, and the federal education bureaucracy is not working.

The district says as a declarant, Worcester acts as a witness to the plaintiffs to support their position that the DOE needs to be preserved.

"If we don't have the resources of again the most relevant research, a place to go to when we need support on what the federal law says, if the highest need families don't have access to some technical assistance, who provides for that," the superintendent asked.

Monárrez says services would not be disrupted for the next coming school year should the department disappear or be heavily cut back. But she says the biggest challenge comes as they're in the midst of prepping for that new school year, saying right now, they're planning for the best, but in anticipation of some significant changes down the line.