For Immediate Release
March 16, 2017
Contact:
March 16, 2017
Contact:
AFT President Randi Weingarten:
‘This Budget Takes a Meat Cleaver to Public Education’
WASHINGTON—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten on
President Donald Trump’s budget.
“This budget takes a meat cleaver to public education.
These are the biggest cuts to the education budget we can recall—even during
times of great fiscal stress. Only someone who doesn’t know what public
schools do and what kids need would contemplate or countenance these kinds of
cuts.
“This budget also includes both backdoor and ‘front-door’
voucher programs that further the Trump administration’s ideological crusade
against public education. The Title I ‘portability’ included is a backdoor
voucher scheme that was expressly rejected in the recently enacted bipartisan
federal education law.
“These cuts, if enacted, will turn into real-life effects
on kids. They do what we feared would happen when Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos was nominated: defund public schools with the aim of destabilizing and
destroying them. By slashing community schools, professional development and
class-size funding, they are cutting what works to help students succeed:
Community schools meet poverty head-on to level the
playing field for kids. In places like Cincinnati and New York, community learning
centers are increasing the confidence parents have in their kids’ schools,
and we are seeing higher graduation rates, attendance and achievement.
Lowering class size is vital to ensuring we meet the
individual needs of every child.
Professional development is critical for educators to be
able to refine their craft and move new ideas and curriculum in the
classroom—just like any corporation would need to train people when
implementing a new product or strategy
And cuts to the Labor Department budget for training will
jeopardize ensuring workers have the skills they need for the jobs of today
and tomorrow.
“When DeVos was nominated, we warned that she would use
her office to wage an ideological attack against public education, and this
budget is the latest confirmation of her efforts to rob the future to push
failed voucher strategies.”
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
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