As the U.S. Senate begins confirmation hearings today to decide whether Linda McMahon will be the next Secretary of Education, the future of the department she would lead and the vital federal programs and funding that Ohio students rely on every day are under attack.
We must stand united against these attacks to protect our public schools.
President Trump has promised to sign an executive order to eliminate the US Department of Education, saying he wants his Education Secretary nominee to put herself out of a job. But, if this agenda moves forward, it will have a very real and devastating impact on students across the country – including the more than 800,000 Ohio students who participate in Title I programs and the nearly 300,000 students in Ohio who receive special education services through IDEA funding, among many others.
Approximately 90% of Ohio students —and 95% of students with disabilities—learn in our public schools. Our students need more opportunities, more resources, and greater protections; not less.
Eliminating the Department of Education will steal resources for our most vulnerable students, explode class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle-class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections.
Parents, educators and even the vast majority of Congress— including Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH 10), Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH 14), and 58 other House Republicans —rejected gutting public education last session, knowing it would only hurt students and is deeply unpopular with parents and educators.
Now, in the face of the latest threats, educators across the country are coming together and standing united to protect our public schools.
It will take all of us standing together to protect our public schools and the students we serve.
Please contact your lawmakers in Washington today. Tell them to push back against executive overreach and attacks on our public schools. Tell them not to support a Secretary of Education nominee who supports an agenda that will have devastating consequences for students, families, and educators in our communities.
Unions exist for moments like this, when we can use our united voice and collective power to ensure our students can get the great public education they deserve.
When we fight together, we win.
