The right-wing proposals in Project 2025 would hurt our country’s public school students, harm children and families who rely on Head Start, and wreck our economy by skewing it toward the wealthy and corporations at the expense of working families.
Project 2025, the extremist agenda set forth by former President Donald Trump’s allies, aims to eliminate the Department of Education, directing tax dollars toward private schools that do not meet the same standards as public schools and do not admit or serve all students. The same goes for charter schools, which do not provide the same accountability as public schools.
It calls for eliminating Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which invests in children from low-income households so they become proficient in reading and math. The schools these children attend are located in low-income communities that struggle to provide a high-quality education for all.
Project 2025 also proposes to eliminate Head Start, a federal early education program that serves more than 833,000 children living in poverty, providing them essential services they need from birth until they turn 5 years old.
Eliminating Head Start would drive up costs for all child care, since it would take away child care services when there is already high demand and limited availability across the country. Its elimination would be especially harmful for people living in rural areas. Head Start has served nearly 40 million kids from low-income families since 1965.
Many AFSCME members work in Head Start programs. These care workers keep our communities together, and need more resources, not to have their professions denigrated and dismantled. AFSCME members also work as school staff in many states, serving K-12 students as teachers’ aides, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and maintenance and janitorial staff.
Project 2025 would also re-engineer the tax system, cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations, and harming lower- and middle-class Americans. According to the Center for American Progress’ Brendan Duke, “This shifts taxes from the wealthy to the middle class, full stop.”
On top of that, Project 2025 would reverse or eliminate measures that help working families and retirees. It would repeal the law that reduces the cost of prescription drugs for retirees, do away with student loan forgiveness for public service workers, devastate nutrition programs, and do other things to take away our rights and freedoms.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, speaker after speaker talked about the many ways in which Project 2025 is a threat to American democracy.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, blasted Project 2025 when he addressed AFSCME’s 46th International Convention earlier this month.
The campaign website of Vice President Harris — who has AFSCME’s full-throated endorsement to become our country’s next president — includes a section on the dangers of Project 2025.