NJEA’s officers, President Sean Spiller, Vice President Steve Beatty and Secretary-Treasurer Petal Robertson released this statement following Tuesday’s firing of U.S. Department of Education staff, gutting the agency.
“Students of all ages will pay the steepest price for Donald Trump, Linda McMahon and Elon Musk’s latest assault on American families. The rash decision to fire half the staff of the U.S. Department of Education as part of a ‘final mission’ to illegally shutter the department will hurt families and communities by eliminating supports that students rely on every day. Trump and his enablers are acting recklessly and cynically, without regard for the impact their cruel cuts will have on children and families in every New Jersey community. Beyond the thousands of workers’ families that will be devastated by the immediate layoffs are a million or more New Jersey families that will be left with under-resourced schools and fewer opportunities for their children.
“All New Jersey taxpayers should be outraged. We already get far less back from the federal government than we pay each year. Now, even the small return we used to get is being snatched away from our children to fund tax breaks for billionaires. These latest irresponsible cuts will shift costs down to local taxpayers who will be left scrambling to make up the difference while Trump, McMahon and Musk gloat. It’s like a game of three-card monte behind one of Trump’s bankrupt casinos in Atlantic City, where the money always ends up in the hands of the ones who are running the con. Like the contractors who built those casinos, New Jersey families are being conned out of their own money to fund Trump’s harmful agenda.
“We care deeply about every one of our students, and we will fight every day to stop them from being robbed of the future they deserve. We call on our senators and representatives to stand up for New Jersey, using every means at their disposal to stop this theft of our children’s education and opportunities.”