WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5) underscored the brutal impacts of Donald Trump’s executive order dismantling the Department of Education.

“Donald Trump is betraying our kids and families,” said Whip Clark. “Republicans promised to make working families’ lives easier and more secure. Now, they’re taking a chainsaw to our local schools — all to fund tax cuts and corrupt contracts for their billionaire donors. Let’s be clear: Trump and the GOP are unilaterally firing teachers, abandoning students, gutting special education, and forcing parents into a panic just as they’re dragging us into a recession.

“The ripple effects will be devastating: school budgets will be slashed, academic and extracurricular programs will be cut, classroom sizes will grow larger, school libraries will have fewer resources, and students will fall behind. This twisted version of the Republican Party will stop at nothing to help the rich get richer. And this time, it’s our children who are paying the price” 

In Massachusetts, Trump’s decision to eliminate the Department of Education would end critical funding that supports 1,800 local public schools and more than 926,000 K-12 students:

• Stripping away $289 million from Title I programs — kicking more than 5,000 teachers out of low-income classrooms and impacting 46% of Massachusetts’s student population.
   
• Eliminating $363 million in IDEA funding — laying off more than 6,000 special education teachers and further squeezing local and state budgets.
   
• Taking away $405 million in Pell Grants that help 91,000 students afford a post secondary education.
   
• $20.5 million in annual funding for about 97,000 English learners – reflecting 10% of Massachusetts’s student population.
   
• $23 million in annual funding to support safe and healthy students and provide a well-rounded education.
   
• $812,000 in annual funding to support children living on military bases or Native American reservations.

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