For
Immediate Release: May 23, 2017
Contact:
Marcus Mrowka
202-531-0689
www.aft.org
AFT President Randi Weingarten:
‘Trump’s Budget Proposal Is Manifestly Cruel to Kids’
WASHINGTON— AFT President Randi Weingarten on
President Donald Trump’s 2018 education budget:
“President Trump’s budget proposal is manifestly cruel to kids. It is
catastrophic to the public schools our most vulnerable and at-risk students attend,
while being a windfall for those who want to profit off of kids or make
education a commodity rather than a great equalizer and an anchor of democracy.
“The combined Medicaid and education
cuts demonstrate a blatant disregard for children and are far worse than what
the administration originally proposed. The $10.6 billion in education cuts,
$800 billion in Medicaid cuts and $143 million in cuts to funds that help
students afford college, demonstrate a lack of caring about other people’s
children and an abandonment of the American value that all our children deserve
a pathway to opportunity. The administration’s hypocrisy is stunning:
- While
Trump and DeVos chose private schools for their kids, with small class sizes,
they want to eliminate the federal funding that helps America’s public
schools lower class sizes.
- While
Trump and DeVos can afford whatever their children and grandchildren need
or want, and while Ivanka Trump got $19 billion for her parental leave project,
the budget completely zeros out all current federal programs that keep
millions of poor kids safe and well-fed in after-school and summer
programs.
- Trump says
there is nothing more important than being a teacher, but he eliminates
the loan forgiveness program that helps students pursue teaching careers,
eliminates funding for teacher preparation and educator support, and guts
most other programs that alleviate student debt or make college more
affordable.
- Trump says
vocational education is the way of the future yet slashes career and
technical education funding.
- DeVos
promised not to hurt children with special needs, but the budget cuts
one-quarter of the Medicaid funding that now pays for essential
school-based services like physical therapists, feeding tubes and
other medical equipment, and health screenings.
“And while DeVos praised the work in
the public schools we saw together in Van Wert, Ohio, this budget rips out the
supports and teacher professional development that make that work possible. And
for what? This budget provides tax cuts for the wealthy and redirects funding
for expanded charters and vouchers. It spends $250 million on further
research for vouchers even though the most recent studies, including one on the
D.C. voucher program by DeVos’ own Education Department, show that vouchers
hurt kids. And it diverts $1 billion from Title I funding—including $550
million in direct Title I cuts—to fund an Arne Duncan-like Race to the
Top-style program. Aside from violating the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds
Act, in which this approach was proposed and rejected, even DeVos’ friends on
the right, including the Heritage Foundation, have criticized this as a federal
intrusion.
“Make no mistake, we will fight for
America’s children against this federal budget proposal whose cruelty is only
matched by its callousness.”
