Washington D.C. — Former President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently called for eliminating the very department she formerly oversaw. But she is hardly an anomaly: Dozens of MAGA Republicans have joined her in calling to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. A new Center for American Progress Action Fund column dives into data from all 50 states on what exactly the MAGA plan for education would mean for students, teachers, and families’ financial security, including:
- More crowded classrooms: An estimated 433,000 teacher positions, or their funding equivalent, could be at risk of elimination. That’s roughly 14 percent of the teacher workforce, and more than 7 million students might be affected by the loss of a teacher—something this nation can ill-afford given pandemic-era teacher retention concerns.
- $16.5 billion worth of annual cuts to K-12 public schools: 25 million students in schools with high rates of poverty, more than the total population of Florida, would lose $16.5 billion of Title I funding annually. These resources provide financial assistance to school districts with high levels of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children have access to a quality education.
- Steep budget cuts for schools serving military families and Native Americans: At least 781,000 students from military families, Native American students, students living in U.S. territories, and students living on federal property or Native American lands would lose $1.4 billion per year for their schools.
- Fewer resources for rural teachers and students: At least 4,200 rural school districts would lose more than $185 million used annually to help improve the quality of teaching and learning in many hard-to-staff schools.
- Lost protections against discrimination for students with disabilities: 7.3 million children and students with disabilities, larger than the total population of Arizona, would lose $14 billion used every year to ensure that they receive a quality education.
- Significantly fewer Americans attending college: 8.7 million students, roughly the total population of Virginia, could lose aid for postsecondary education, including the 34 percent of all undergraduate students who receive Pell Grants.
“Amid a teacher shortage and rising education costs, the MAGA plan for education would eliminate resources for students who need them the most,” says Will Ragland, CAP Action’s senior director of research and author of the column. “This plan would harm millions of students from low-income families and children with disabilities, but its authors care more about catering to the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.”
Read the column here: “The MAGA Dream of Ending Federal Education Funding Would Be An American Nightmare” by Will Ragland
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