American Federation of Teachers members respond to Trump’s Executive Order to eliminate the Federal role in education

A Press Release sent to Loveland Magazine today from the American Federation of Teachers:

Washington, DC – American Federation of Teachers members from across the country discuss their concerns about the impact of Donald Trump’s executive order today to eliminate the US Department of Education.

They want to know, if Trump succeeds, who will support the millions of students living in poverty, living with disabilities or relying on financial aid to go to college or pursue a trade.

AFT members believe states and local school boards should continue to control education but, like most of the public, they embrace a federal role in education and oppose abolishing the department. This move isn’t only unpopular but illegal, said AFT President Randi Weingarten.

 “As Republican governors at the White House celebrate the dismantling of a federal role in education, our members across the country are worried about the impact this will have on their students,” Weingarten said. “No one likes bureaucracy, and everyone’s in favor of more efficiency, so let’s find ways to accomplish that. But this isn’t efficiency, it’s evisceration.”

Please contact press@aft.org if you would like to speak with Weingarten, the following AFT members or others about the impact of Trump’s decision:

Bethany Letiecq, president of George Mason University-AAUP and professor in George Mason’s College of Education and Human Development:

“This administration is creating absolute chaos and fear. The Department of Education is vital, not only for meeting the needs of children living in poverty and with disabilities, but also for those who need financial support to get to college.

“I’m a George Mason University professor who works with teachers who serve a diverse array of students and their families. What am I supposed to say about the future of public education and who will be included?”

Christina Chuderski, elementary school teacher in Lee County, Fla.:

“As a Florida teacher in Title I schools for 23 years and a parent of two special needs kids, I’ve seen how vital the Department of Education is to the lives of children. Dismantling it would be a disaster, stripping protections from our most vulnerable students while pushing ineffective voucher schemes that leave many kids behind. We cannot let politicians, unelected billionaires and bureaucrats gut the system that gives every child a fighting chance.”

Heather Stambaugh, social studies teacher in Ohio and president of Greenon Federation of Teachers, Local 4370:

“Closing the Department of Education will not only create chaos but will put in jeopardy critical funding for students with disabilities and Title I support systems. Our more rural district uses these funds to ensure we can provide Title I teachers and support programs, including tutors, to our struggling readers. If the plan for federal dollars being funneled to states delays the process and puts districts in financial restraints, that will delay crucial interventions.”

Sharon Snowton, retired bilingual educator who taught at Cedar Hill Independent School District, Texas:

“I know eliminating the Department of Education will hurt Texas children by cutting services that support our students by $3.66 billion. These much-needed services include our resources for our Title I schools, speech services, life skills, before- and after-school programs, and bilingual education. These actions will hurt our students in rural communities, our military families, our Native American students, and our students with disabilities. So thank you, Gov. Abbott, for going along with the Trump administration’s misinformation campaign and choosing to harm our Texas students. It really says a lot.”

Jennifer Graves, special education teacher in New Haven, Conn., and executive vice president of New Haven Federation of Teachers, Local 933:

“Our schools are already grossly underfunded in Connecticut. We are really, really struggling already and constantly working in a deficit model to support not only general education students, but especially our most vulnerable populations—our multilingual learners and our students with disabilities. The majority of our students go to Title I schools. They all receive free breakfast and lunches. It would be absolutely devastating to lose this.

“And as a parent here in New Haven County, my son receives a Pell Grant to go to Connecticut State University. So knowing that teachers don’t make the salaries that we so well deserve, I would not be able to afford to pick up a college tuition right now to send my son to a four-year school. So from parents to students to educators to other school professionals, it would really be devastating for student growth, for opportunities in the world and just for public education as a whole.”

Ternesha Burroughs, high school math teacher and Education Minnesota-OSSEO member:

“Losing federal funding means losing vital programs for students with disabilities, from wheelchair access to job-skills training. Without these supports, people may have to quit work to care for their kids, and older students may lose opportunities to learn job skills. How will they function in society without these programs? We need to protect federal funding to keep these supports in place.”

Robert Castleberry, Ed.D., fifth-grade teacher in Kansas and AFT-Kansas secretary:

“We will lose counselors, social workers, behavior specialists—people who ensure safety and stability for students who need it most. Without these special needs supports, we aren’t setting students up for success. We are setting them up for failure. And that failure won’t be theirs—it will be ours.”

Michael Brix, instructor at Peoria (Ill.) Public Schools’ Woodruff Career & Technical Center and member of the Peoria Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 780:

Brix says that Trump’s push to dismantle the Education Department raises questions about whether state governments will receive the money they were expecting from the federal government and whether they are even staffed to handle distribution of the funds.

“Over the last 10 years we have seen a nice growth in the number of CTE students, which we need in the workforce. Our job as CTE instructors is to prepare the students to hit the workforce running after high school graduation. I hope this change by the government doesn’t set educators back years while our states are working to try and figure out how to distribute all those funds. I am very nervous for us.”

Rodney Fresh, high school social studies teacher from Detroit and treasurer of the Detroit Federation of Teachers:

“I just want to put a face on it. Because I had a student that had an internship from a CTE program, and her internship was put on hold because the funding was put on hold. We have students taking speech online because there aren’t enough speech teachers. The playing field is already unlevel. Now you’re just going to put a crater in the middle of the playing field, and it’s just morally irresponsible.”

Bill Schwandt, elementary special education paraprofessional and president of the Bloomington (Minn.) Federation of Paraprofessionals:

“Fifteen years ago, the governor slashed education funding in Minnesota. Our schools are still struggling to recover. Any cuts in federal funding now would erase our recovery and harm students’ learning for years, if not decades.”