It’s been a long first week of presidential executive orders targeting the public good and our neighbors, our families, ourselves. Monday’s late night illegal federal spending freeze was halted by a court challenge on Tuesday. For now the memo instigating that freeze has been rescinded (although not the orders it was meant to implement) due to widespread public outrage and pushback.
Federal dollars fund much of the fabric of every community in Illinois from the literal physical infrastructure to the social services that ultimately nearly everyone relies on, including our public schools, where about 12% of funding comes from the feds.
Now, as we expected, the new presidential administration is ramping up attacks specifically on public schools—institutions that are the heart of our communities across our state, which is why we need to rally and make some noise on behalf of public schools.
Two new executive orders (EOs) targeting federal funds for public schools were issued today, one which will prod states to spend federal dollars on privatized school options and one to develop a plan to threaten the funding of schools that “indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies.”
Reuters: Trump issues orders to promote school choice, end "anti-American" teaching
The language and intent of these EOs is familiar to anyone who’s been following the extremist, anti-equality attacks on public schools around the country, including Illinois, over the last few years. The immediate goal of these attacks has been to roll back curricula and policies that make our schools safe and welcoming for all students. The broader goal is to discredit public education in hopes of further privatizing the public school system.
These attacks, while doing real, concrete harm to individuals and schools, have, nonetheless, mostly failed in Illinois on a systemic level because we are, on the whole, united to defend public education. Parents, teachers, students and community members have organized to protect welcoming school environments and counter disinformation. Illinois has an anti- book ban law, and fights against book bans continue. In local school board elections in 2023, pro-’Public Schools For All’ candidates won, despite dark money funding their opponents. And later that year, a broad coalition of organizations across Illinois successfully pushed our state legislature to end the Invest in Kids voucher program, not extend it. Fighting back is possible, and it can succeed.
So, it’s important that now, when these attacks are coming from the President and the federal executive branch, pro-public school supporters continue to step up and defend well-resourced public schools that welcome and educate all kids. Collective action works to counter these attacks.
And the truth is the basis for these Executive Orders aren’t actually popular. In fact, more Americans than not feel favorably about diversity, equity and inclusion programs; most voters prefer funding to be directed to public schools not “school choice”; and most parents approve of how and what their schools are teaching, including on history and gender and sexuality. (e.g. see this polling from spring 2022, the height of school-based "culture" wars.)
Much of what the school privatization EO attempts is similar to what Trump’s Department of Education pushed under Betsy DeVos in his first term, incentivizing states to use public funds for voucher programs. Last time around, a federal voucher program didn’t get support from Congress, so the effects were limited. It wasn’t popular then, and it isn’t popular now. Just this past fall, vouchers were defeated at the ballot box in Kentucky, Nebraska and Colorado.
That said, if Congress approves a federal voucher program, it will have a disastrous impact on the public school system around the country, including in states like ours that do not have a school voucher program.
Legislation to create a federal voucher program, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), has been reintroduced in the House as and, as we’ve talked about before, it could be snuck into a reconciliation bill. (Details on what that legislation could contain here.)
Taking Action
As we’ve seen in the last 48 hours, public mobilization works. The unconstitutional spending freeze was (at least temporarily) rescinded due to public outrage yesterday. We can protect our public school system in the same way. Disrupting, defunding and dismantling public schools is not inevitable.
We public school supporters need to pick up the phone and make calls to Congress on this NOW.
- Find your US Rep here.
- Senator Dick Durbin: (202) 224-2152
- Senator Tammy Duckworth: (202) 224-2854
You can also send them an email if you haven’t yet. Here's a script to use for a call:
“I’m calling as your constituent. Congress needs to ensure that public funds are used for public schools. Please oppose the creation of any federal voucher programs and oppose any transfer of federal dollars meant to support our local public schools to private schools. Please fight any attempt to weaponize civil rights laws against schools that serve 90% of all kids in Illinois.” |
It is easy to feel discouraged and overwhelmed in the face of what is happening. But action at the local and state level and advocating with our own electeds matters.
Here’s some other concrete and simple steps you can take to stay engaged:
-
Share this quick summary of how Congress could create a federal voucher program with others by texting this image. Make sure your local school board, local school council members, PTA, union local, or parent listserv know about this threat; share this link.
-
Write to your state legislators asking them to finally fulfill the General Assembly’s promise to fully fund our public schools, something that’s even more important as the federal government takes steps to weaken our schools. Ask what they are doing to protect public schools from attacks by federal agencies.
-
Inform yourself on the bigger picture: DePaul’s College of Education’s Winter Virtual Forum on Wed. Feb 26th at 5:30pm will cover “The Trump Administration’s Plans for Public Education” with speakers Dr. Carol Burris and Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig. Register here.