A federal judge on Thursday temporarily reinstated hundreds of Education Department workers laid off by the Trump administration and blocked the president's executive order attempting to dismantle the decades-old agency.

President Trump’s push to eliminate the Department of Education is sparking fear among parents of the nation’s 7.5 million special needs students, who rely on federal oversight and funding.

Noting that Congress created the department in 1979, the judge explained that the president can’t shut it down without congressional approval.