TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Waving hundreds of signs and chanting songs, educators and community members marched from Oury and Hughes Streets to Congress and Alameda in downtown Tucson. They were protesting against President Donald Trump’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education in the “March to Protect Our Kids” protest.
“Here’s somebody who’s doing a lot of harm,” Gina Santos said.
Santos is a board member for the Tucson Education Association. She’s worried that the Department of Education’s Title 1 funding for students with individualized needs would go away.
“Kids aren’t going to have access to programs that help them,” Santos said.
The White House said Trump’s decision to get rid of the D.O.E. would give states more opportunities to make decisions about education. They said that would allow them to focus on programs that would cater to students’ unique needs.
“Make sure that our students with special needs are taken care of,” Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Education said.
However, protesters like Santos disagree, especially when she said resources are already scarce.
“We’re doing a lot with already a little bit and so when you’re taking that, you’re taking resources away,” Santos said.
The White House said since the D.O.E. was created in 1979, it has spent three trillion dollars. However they said that funding does not directly educate students, but instead goes to things like race and gender ideologies the Biden administration focused on.
“The states are allowed to spend the money where they need to spend it. To hire teachers, increase their salaries,” McMahon said.
However, protesters like Hillary McLeod, a music teacher at Pueblo Gardens Pre-K-8, are not convinced.
“Arts are often the first programs to get cut. It terrifies me,” McLeod said. “Without some of these funds, I won’t be able to do things like purchase new instruments for my kids if the instruments get holes in them or need to be repaired.”
Trump said he’s empowering universal school choice through his decision to dismantle the D.O.E. Universal school choice uses funding to allow parents to choose where they want their kids to attend school, whether it be public, private, or charter schools.
“You’re not expanding school choice. You’re really not. You’re just giving more to people who already have access to that,” Santos said.
To officially shut down the D.O.E., Congress would need to step in. Several groups filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s order to stop him from doing it.
“I hope that this picks up and we start a movement across state lines,” June Abeyti, a third grade teacher said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
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