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Dear Friend,
As you may have heard, President Trump recently signed an executive order aimed at dismantling the Department of Education. This executive order is reckless and illegal; only an Act of Congress can abolish a federal agency that Congress itself created.
Gutting the Department of Education would hurt children at all levels—particularly in rural and low-income schools, as well as students with disabilities. Our district alone receives over $45 million from the Department. Without this support, almost 700 teachers in IL-11 would be laid off, class sizes would increase, and access to college and job training would disappear.
We also must not forget that the Department of Education was founded to ensure the protection of students’ civil rights in response to school segregation. My father wrote much of the enforcement language behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that desegregated southern schools, so I know all too well how hard-fought and critical these advances were. Dismantling the Department would roll back vital federal civil rights protections for American students.
This will also create unnecessary chaos for the 1.6 million Illinoisans who rely on federal student loans. Trump has now designated the Small Business Administration (SBA) to administer student loans. However, the SBA lacks the institutional knowledge and the staff—especially after the Trump Administration cut over 40% of their workforce—to handle student loan disbursement.
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