WASHINGTON—Parents, teachers and students in hundreds of cities nationwide marched on and into schools on March 4, declaring education is central to the future of democracy and that cuts in federal education dollars—plus dictates from the Republican Trump administration—endanger that.
“This is a direct attack on the future of our communities. Our government is failing them by deciding they are not worth an education,” says Maria Vasquez-Luna, a Manassas, Va., city councilor, Teachers/ AFT member and a member of Labor’s Council for Latin American Advancement. Manassas school students are 70% Latino.
Mobilized by the Teachers/AFT in just a few weeks and joined by National Education Association President Becky Pringle, the marchers spoke out for more, not less, money for education and for channeling it to students who need it most, governed by teachers who know their kids’ needs.
“Never have we had so many actions [organized] in such a short period of time,” said Teachers/AFT President Randi Weingarten, a New York City civics teacher who hosted a zoom press conference about the demonstrations. Between marches and social media, teachers and students were at 2,000 events.
“Our public schools are the cornerstone of our nation, and now we have someone”—Republican President Donald Trump—“who does not understand that,” declared Chicago Teachers Union/AFT Local 1 President Stacy Davis Gates at her union’s outdoor early-morning press conference at the Minnie Minoso elementary school on Chicago’s South Side.
“In order to protect our children in Trump’s America, we need a grand coalition force,” Davis, a social studies teacher, declared. “We have to work together to protect these young persons across the city and the country.”
AFT President Randi Weingarten, a New York City civics teacher who also holds a law degree, assembled representatives of such a grand coalition for her own early-morning zoom press conference about the state of the nation’s schools and the Trump threat.
The national day of action for public schools occurred fewer than 24 hours after the Senate, on a 51-45 party-line vote, confirmed GOP big giver Linda McMahon, ex co-CEO of Worldwide Entertainment —better known as the World Wrestling Federation—as the new Secretary of Education.
McMahon, true to Trump and GOP form, promptly said she would push vouchers to give taxpayer dollars to parents of private school students, an idea both big teachers unions oppose.
That’s because public schools educate 90% of the nation’s 50-million-plus K-12 students, including 95% of those with special needs. Private schools can turn away students—black, brown and with such needs—they don’t like.
“Our message is simple,” Weingarten declared. “It’s not necessary to rob kids of the education they need” by sharply cutting federal school aid “to give tax cuts to the wealthy.”
The House-passed budget blueprint the week before does just that, and reaction to it boosted turnout at the events, including a march in front of Trump Vice President J.D. Vance’s home in Cincinnati.
The blueprint envisions a $4.5 billion tax cut for corporations and the rich, to be paid for by cuts of up to 80% in K-12 school aid, elimination of school lunch subsidies and other food programs, and deep cuts in federal funds for everything from vocational education to nurses.
Federal funds account for one of every nine dollars spent on education in the U.S., but far more than that in the schools that serve children from low-income households under Title I of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and kids with special needs for individualized instruction under the later law mandating better education for them, too.
“I’m talking about kids who are disabled, kids who are poor, kids in rural areas and kids who are the first in their families to go to college,” said Weingarten. Trump-GOP cuts would hurt all of them. So would another top Trump/right-wing goal: Eliminating the federal Department of Education.
That department funnels money directly to school districts and kids, bypassing states, which might divert it to other uses if it came as a block grant, another favorite right-wing idea. Right-wingers view the department as a nest of leftists, or advocates of “woke” education, or communists, or all of those.
Chimed in for the cause
Leaders of statewide teachers unions chimed in for the cause and added local details, as did NEA President Pringle, a Philadelphia science teacher.
“In Ohio, we’re already fighting at the state level for fair funding,” said Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper. “The Education Department supports 1.6 million kids in 3500 school districts, including $600 million in Title I funds. That includes $5 million for students in rural communities.” Take the money away, and rural school districts are in deep financial trouble.
“It is no secret President Trump and his allies want to dismantle the Education” and hurt school districts like hers, in Manassas, Va., said Sonia Vasquez-Luna. “This is about stripping away resources from our children.
“More than one-third of our English learners come from poverty. Cutting Title I means cutting dollars that help our kids learn English.”
That’s yet another Trump bugaboo. He signed an executive order mandating English be the sole official language of the U.S., outraging LCLAA and other organizations that represent people of color.
“Our children deserve more than reckless policies and broken promises,” Vasquez-Luna said.
“Our labor siblings are stepping up,” said NEA President Pringle, a Philadelphia science teacher. Pringle cited support from AFSCME, which represents many auxiliary school workers, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers. “You are seeing educators, students and allies saying not just that we want to protect our public schools but to promote our public schools,” she stated.
“You will hear students, parents and teachers saying ‘no,’” Pringle added. Teachers and unions, she said, “have to stand up for students who have been left out or never funded.”
That’s not what Trump and his anti-union, anti-people of color, white nationalist backers want. When the president nominated McMahon he said openly he wants her to close her department and eliminate her own job. And the GOP congressional majority wants to cut K-12 dollars by 80%.
Days before, lawmakers came to the Education Department to investigate reports that Trump’s puppeteer multibillionaire Elon Musk had sent his 22-year-old “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) computer nerds to extract confidential financial information about students and their families from the agency files.
They were met by a shaven-headed, stone-faced, brown-shirted security guard. He wasn’t identified with any badge or other police insignia. And he wouldn’t let them in.
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