Harrisburg, PA − February 26, 2025 − This afternoon, Senate Democrats held a press conference in response to the U.S. House’s passage of a budget bill that proposes significant cuts to federal education funding and ongoing attacks to public education. You can view today’s press conference here. Senator Lindsey M. Williams’, Minority Chair of the Senate Education Committee, remarks begin at 4:30. You can read a full transcript below.
“We all know that the actions of the federal government are chaotic. And while the specific actions may be new and coming at a frenetic pace, the goal is NOT new. The goal has been and will continue to be to dismantle, defund, and destroy public education.
Let me be crystal clear: President Musk is pillaging the Department of Education to find money to make him and his tech bro billionaire friends richer. The students who will bear the brunt of this greed are our students with the most needs – our students with disabilities.
The educational rights of students with disabilities are rooted in federal law. Enforcement of that law is up to the Department of Education. When you get rid of the Department – you get rid of the enforcement of that right.
This administration has weaponized the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. Since Inauguration Day, the Office for Civil Rights has only opened about 20 investigations focused on Trump’s priorities, placing more than 10,000 student complaints related to disability access and sexual and racial harassment on hold.
This attack on students with disabilities and public education is unfortunately nothing new. Ronald Reagan called for the elimination of the Department of Education less than two years after it was created. But even if the Department survives, the threat to public education remains.
And we can clearly see that threat with the nomination of Linda McMahon to head the Department of Education. A constituent who wrote to me said it best: “She has zero qualifications, but can be seen in the middle of a wrestling ring hitting someone in the face with a garbage can. Shame on anyone that would vote for her.”
Someone who has virtually no education experience is not brought in to help students, they are brought in to maximize the money that corporations will make off the backs of those students.
Education is one of the most extreme parts of Project 2025 and students can still be harmed without eliminating the Department. We have seen these efforts in Pennsylvania for years as the Commonwealth Foundation and Jeffrey Yass try to privatize public education and drive families out of public schools.
As Minority Chair of the Senate Education Committee, I will continue to call out these billionaires and corporations who want to make money off kids and work to ensure a high-quality, inclusive public education for ALL students.
I’ll close with a quote from another one of my constituents: “We will not lay down and accept this without using our voices. We are loud, we WILL be heard, and the future of our children depends on it.”
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