Suzanne Bonamici Slams Musk And Trump For Waging A ‘Cruel War On Public Education In This Country’

yesterday

At a House Democratic Women's Caucus press briefing, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) discussed the growing threat to public education from the Trump administration.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, everyone, for being here today.

00:03I'm going to talk about education, which is an issue that does not just affect women.

00:08It affects women, children, families, and the economy.

00:12You know, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who probably never set foot in a public school

00:17or a public classroom, public school classroom, they're waging a war, a cruel war on public

00:22education in this country.

00:25I'm Suzanne Bonamici.

00:26I represent the 1st Congressional District of Oregon, and before I came to Congress,

00:30I fought for education issues for public education in the state legislature, and I spent years

00:36as a public school parent.

00:37I'm a public school graduate myself.

00:39I spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in public schools volunteering and advocating

00:46for a strong system of public education, because it is the path to a better future for everyone.

00:52Public schools do not discriminate.

00:55They are there for every single student.

00:58And I tell you, the public is not with Donald Trump and Elon Musk on this.

01:02They appreciate their public schools.

01:04I just had five town hall meetings in Oregon two weeks ago.

01:08Each one of them was at a school, four in high schools and one in a community college,

01:12and parents, educators, people kept coming up to me and saying, what is happening?

01:16What will happen to my child?

01:17I have two children with disabilities, one mom told me.

01:21A principal just told me if we don't have the federal funding, we won't be able to

01:25run our before and after school programs.

01:27We'll have less support for our students, particularly the students at risk.

01:33So why are they doing this?

01:35Why does the Trump administration want to close the Department of Education, cut education

01:40funding, and privatize education?

01:42Well, they say it's because education is up to the states, and much of it is.

01:47Much of the funding is, and definitely the curriculum is.

01:51The Trump administration and my Republican colleagues say they don't want woke curriculum,

01:56which of course they cannot define.

01:58That's not a federal issue.

02:00That is up to their local school boards and their states.

02:03So why are they doing this?

02:05Well, the federal dollars are so critical.

02:08Title I, for example, that is the funding that's helped support schools with high populations

02:14of low income students.

02:16IDEA, now unlike our education secretary, I know that that means the Individuals with

02:21Disabilities Education Act.

02:24That means that every student, whether they have a disability or special learning need,

02:28they will have the support they need in our public schools.

02:32But it's also higher education.

02:33I would not be standing here today without the Pell Grant and the work study that I got

02:38to get myself through college, first community college, then college, then law school.

02:43And I did that because I had that federal support.

02:47There's also the non-discrimination, the civil rights that are so important to schools today.

02:53Now the Republicans and the Trump administration, they want to privatize public education and

02:57send public dollars to private schools, including religious private schools.

03:03We say no, public dollars are for public schools.

03:07And also, I represent not only Portland, which is urban, but a lot of rural communities.

03:14You can't tell a rural community where the public school is the heart of their community.

03:19We're taking away some of your public dollars, but here's a voucher so your kid can go to

03:23private school.

03:24There are no private schools.

03:27So we need to do everything we can to fight these cuts, to fight the elimination of the

03:31Department of Education, and to fight privatization.

03:34Because you know what the result will be?

03:36Larger class sizes, fewer supports for students, more discrimination, and a widening gap between

03:44the students who are already doing well and the students who are struggling.

03:47So we're there for this fight.

03:49I know the Democratic Women's Caucus stands with me.

03:52And we will indeed fight, and we will not back down.

03:56Because public education is there to provide a path to a better future for every student.

04:03And I also want to add, in addition to the court decision that Representative Stansbury

04:09mentioned that happened yesterday in California, last night there was also a federal judge

04:15in Maryland who came up with the same conclusion.

04:18These indiscriminate firings of probationary employees, it's wrong, and they need to be

04:24brought back to work in every agency.

04:27So the courts are on our side.

04:30We're going to keep fighting.

04:31We're going to legislate when we can, litigate when we need to, and we're going to keep up

04:34the fight, and we won't back down.

04:37Public education is too important to our future.

04:40And now it is my honor to turn it over to my amazing colleague from North Carolina,

04:44Representative Deborah Ross.

Suzanne Bonamici Slams Musk And Trump For Waging A ‘Cruel War On Public Education In This Country’

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