Following Donald Trump’s recent statements on a Fox News<\/em> morning program, “Fox & Friends,” education professionals are calling for public attention. Trump discussed his intent to penalize schools that provide a factual representation of U.S. history, including the realities of slavery and racial discrimination. This occurred after a viewer inquired about options for students reluctant to attend their local public schools. Trump expressed his desire to “let the states run the schools,” promoting enhanced “school choice.”<\/p>\n Trump, the former president, announced, “We’re gonna take the Department of Education, we’re gonna close it,” proposing that states should independently handle educational policies without federal oversight. This suggestion aligns with the right-wing Project 2025 policy agenda, which was developed by numerous ex-members of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Brian Kilmeade, co-host of “Fox & Friends,” raised concerns that this plan might enable liberal-leaning cities or states to adopt school curriculums emphasizing that the nation was “built off the backs of slaves on stolen land.” Trump’s response to such scenarios was straightforward: “Then we don’t send them money.”<\/p>\n The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has taken Trump’s threats seriously, highlighting them as part of the broader Project 2025 initiative. This plan aims to diminish the federal government’s role to merely a data-collecting body that provides information to states.<\/p>\n “It’s in his Project 2025 plan: Trump wants to defund public schools,” stated the labor union. Public schools receive approximately 13.6% of their funding from the federal government, and cuts could severely impact low-income areas by potentially leading to school closures, layoffs of educational staff, and a reduction in classroom resources.<\/p>\n Trump’s remarks also tap into the ongoing “culture war” that the Republican Party has been waging, particularly their critique of the teaching of “critical race theory” (CRT). CRT argues that race is a societal construct and that racism is embedded in legal systems and institutions through policies such as redlining and severe sentencing laws.<\/p>\n This focus on CRT has spurred attacks on all forms of “culturally relevant teaching” that consider the experiences of people of color, including teachings on the historical enslavement of Black people, Jim Crow laws, the contributions of racial minorities, and the civil rights movement.<\/p>\n Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), emphasized that the objective of educators is to “teach students how to think, not what to think,” countering claims from the right that the educational system aims to “indoctrinate” students. She criticized Trump’s tactic of “threatening funding if they don’t teach what he wants. That’s indoctrination and it’s dangerous. Our kids deserve better.”<\/p>\n Trump is not the only Republican pushing for the defunding of public education. As reported by the Daily Montanan<\/em>, GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, who is currently leading in the polls against Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mt.), has spoken about discarding the Department of Education altogether. In Montana, where about 90% of children attend public schools, federal funding accounts for 12% of per-student spending, with $40 million dedicated solely to assisting students with disabilities.<\/p>\n “Fairly significant harm would be implemented in Montana’s public schools if we suddenly snapped our fingers and said, ‘No more federal funding of education,'” stated Lance Melton, head of the Montana School Boards Association.<\/p>\n Lauren Miller, acting communications director for the AFL-CIO, noted that Trump’s recent comments are consistent with a disturbing pattern seen in many of his and Project 2025’s policy proposals. “He’ll defund public schools if they don’t obey him,” Miller said. “He’ll fire government workers if they don’t obey him. He’ll gut the Department of Justice if they don’t obey him. He’ll deny FEMA funding to states if they don’t obey him.”<\/p>\n\n\n