The Attack on Education Is an Attack on Civil Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mattie Goldman, [email protected] 

WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement on the proposed plan to eliminate the Department of Education:

“As the American people know, education should be a right in this country. We know it is the way to produce thinkers and doers who are productive people at work and in society. I never met a parent who thought their public school should have fewer resources or should allow their children to be bullied without consequence. But that is what President Trump is promising by taking a chainsaw to the Department of Education that funds, monitors, supports, and protects children and young adults in schools in every ZIP code and community.

“We all know that we need to do more to improve our schools, especially for those routinely denied an excellent education. We need to deliver more science and high level math programs — and ensure they are open to all students — as well as more support services for our children with disabilities and more support for teachers in the classroom. But this far-reaching attack on the Department of Education is a direct attack on schools and the right to an education. Born directly from our nation’s civil rights struggle, the department exists because Americans rightfully demanded equal educational opportunity for all children. Black parents and other parents of color demanded that Congress protect the rights and wellbeing of their children — and Congress answered. Fix it, don’t nix it, because it is the place parents can go to hold their schools accountable for delivering services and ensuring schools are meeting their obligations to use federal dollars as intended. This isn’t about fixing bureaucracy — it’s about stripping away vital federal dollars from schools that desperately need them, abandoning students (especially students with disabilities), and allowing discrimination to flourish.

“At the end of the day, this administration is looking to let communities struggle to support  public education while it gives tax cuts to billionaires.

“The Leadership Conference and our coalition will not allow this administration to erase decades of progress that has helped get us closer to the right to an equal opportunity for a better future. We are mobilizing immediately to safeguard all of our children’s futures and the right to an education. This is a fight for our nation’s soul, and we will lead it.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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