BOSTON, MA (WABI) - Maine has signed onto a new multi-state lawsuit that alleges that the Trump administration’s mass layoffs at the Department of Education are part of an unlawful plan to dismantle the entire department. The lawsuit also names President Donald Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon as defendants.

More than a dozen states filed a federal lawsuit alleging cuts to the U.S. Department of Education's workforce, including all of the staff at a regional office in Boston, will harm students from public K-12 schools to higher education.

The lawsuit alleges the layoffs are so severe the department “can no longer function, and cannot comply with its statutory requirements.”