Shutting down the U.S. Department of Education is not about improving public schools or helping students learn better. All it would do is hurt millions of students and working people, AFSCME President Lee Saunders says.
“Dismantling the Department of Education has nothing to do with improving public schools, and everything to do to with starving them of the resources to succeed,” he said.
Saunders released a statement after the White House issued an executive order Thursday ordering Education Secretary Linda McMahon to essentially shut down the agency she’s leading.
Who will suffer from this latest order?
Every student, but especially those who have disabilities, those who need help with English, and those who live in rural and poor school districts. America’s school children will be forced to endure larger classroom sizes, crumbling facilities, and bigger staffing shortages, Saunders said.
Others who will feel the pain include aspiring public service workers, college students and student loan borrowers who will have trouble accessing financial aid and programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
America’s workers will also suffer — including AFSCME members who work as support staff in school systems across the United States.
“Shutting down the Department of Education amounts to one giant hit job on America's working families,” Saunders said.
“It will jeopardize the jobs and livelihoods of millions of teachers, custodians, food service workers, school nurses, school bus drivers, and instructional support professionals, and their families,” he added. “And it will put an even greater financial burden on states, cities and towns, which already shoulder most education costs and have authority over their programs.”
The executive order is straight out of the Project 2025 playbook. And it’s solely aimed at allowing the administration’s billionaire buddies to “swoop in and turn America’s great equalizer into their next great profit generator,” Saunders said.
He added, “We can't allow billionaires like Elon Musk and Linda McMahon to come into our neighborhoods, gut our public schools, and auction what’s left to the highest bidders.”
The best way for working people to fight this and other attacks is to Get Organized. Let’s GO!