Don’t take a wrecking ball to our public schools
A budget isn’t just a spending plan, but a moral document that tells the world what you care about and what you don’t, what you respect or disregard, what you prize or disdain.
The Donald Trump-Betsy DeVos budget tells us everything we need to know about what they value. It is a wrecking ball, and it is aimed directly at our nation’s students and public schools.
This Robin Hood-in-reverse budget takes funding from neighborhood public schools and diverts it to voucher programs. It is yet another indication that the dangerous duo of Trump and DeVos cares little about America’s students, has no regard for public schools, and opposes the idea that all students—wherever they live—deserve the opportunity for the support, tools, and time to learn.
Given its embrace of voucher schemes and deep funding cuts, the Trump-DeVos spending plan—or rather, cutting plan—is a direct attack on the opportunities that we educators champion for each and every student. Trump and DeVos are proposing to slash billions of dollars from programs that are vital to student success.
The budget they have proposed cuts deeply into funds for, among other things:
- after-school programs;
- · college loans for low-income students;
- · arts education;
- · reductions in class size; and
- · professional development for educators.
It does not reflect the promise we make as educators to ensuring that every student has a quality education or our commitment as a nation to the values that define America. To borrow a phrase that meant little during the presidential campaign and means even less now, this budget will definitely not “make America great again.”
Education is hit hard (you can click here to see how the budget would affect students and particular programs in your state), but it’s not the only area that suffers. Cuts are planned for a variety of programs that help poor people and families who are struggling to make ends meet, including the modern-day food stamp program and Medicaid. (And by the way: Cuts to Medicaid would have a tremendous impact on special education.) Even Meals on Wheels isn’t safe in Trump’s hands.
Trump also wants to cut programs that protect the environment and fund research on cancer and other diseases.
The budget is the latest example of why Americans have no confidence in Donald Trump or Betsy DeVos: Their priorities are reckless and wrong for students and working families.
One of these priorities, as we all know, is vouchers. DeVos—who is not an educator and never even attended a public school—has been fascinated with them for decades. She made Michigan’s students guinea pigs for her voucher schemes. The result has been the collapse of schools in some of the poorest communities, driven by for-profit operators.
You would hope DeVos might have learned something from her experiment. I mean, after all, in science classes, our Don't take a wrecking ball to our public schools - Lily's Blackboard:
