The Trump /DeVos Budget for Schools

President Trump’s and Secretary of Education DeVos’ education budget was unveiled this week. It’s devastating news for public schools. Rethinking Schools stands firmly against these unprecedented attacks on public education and we need your support to continue our fight against privatization—and to support and improve public schools.     Public schools remain the only educational institutions that have the potential and obligation to serve all students. Yet Trump’s education budget shows how this administration puts corporate interests over the needs of students and communities. The budget gives to charter and voucher schools—and steals from public school children: Gives $500 million more for charter schools (up 50% from current funding), $250 million to expand and “study’ voucher schools, and  $1 billion more to encourage school “choice” within districts. Cuts $1.2 billion for after-school programs that serve 1.6 million children, most of whom are poor, and $2.1 billion for teacher education and class-size reduction. Cuts $490 million for college work-study programs.  Cuts $700 million in Perkins loans for disadvantaged students. Cuts funding for mental health services, anti-bullying initiatives, physical education, and science and engineering instruction. Slashes $168 million for career and technical education and eliminates $96 million for adult literacy. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Fight the Trump/DeVos agenda by making a donation to Rethinking Schools so that we can expand our work and strengthen the educational justice movement. In 1988, we ran our first article critical of school vouchers. Over the years we published dozens of articles exposing the move toward school privatization. We know that the experiment with privately run charter and religious voucher schools has failed. They don’t serve all students. They drain money from public schools. They are unaccountable to the public. In the era of Trump, our work is more important than ever. Join Rethinking Schools as we critique the mounting efforts to privatize public schools—and promote the extraordinary social justice work going on in schools and classrooms around the country.  In solidarity, Bob Peterson Rethinking Schools