WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) joined Senate colleagues in a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon condemning the administration’s reckless and illegal firing of half of the workforce at the U.S. Department of Education, which is tasked with providing funding and support to critical programs that help students succeed. By dismantling the Department of Education while fighting to give more tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy, the Trump Administration is putting at risk federal funding that helps pay teachers’ salaries, support veterans accessing higher education, and protect student’s civil and educational rights.
For Nevada, this means threatening the federal agency that provides over 16 percent of the state’s funding for public K-12 education to meet the needs of nearly 700 schools and over 534,000 students. It has also distributed $264 million in Pell Grants to help 57,000 students in Nevada access higher education.
“As Secretary of Education, you are the foremost public servant responsible for carrying out the Department of Education’s mission to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access,” wrote the Senators. “Despite that responsibility, your first act as Secretary was announcing it was your ‘final mission’ to dismantle the Department of Education, fire the public servants who keep it running, and terminate opportunities for students in public schools, colleges, and universities across the country.”
“We will not stand by as you attempt to turn back the clock on education in this country through gutting the Department of Education,” they continued. “Our nation’s public schools, colleges, and universities are preparing the next generation of America’s leaders—we must take steps to strengthen education in this country, not take a wrecking ball to the agency that exists to do so.”
The full letter can be found HERE.
Senator Rosen has been a strong critic of the Trump Administration’s efforts to cut programs Nevadans rely on in order to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy. Last week, she voted against Republicans’ partisan continuing resolution that gives President Trump and Elon Musk unprecedented power to withhold funding for critical programs supporting veterans, seniors, and families in Nevada and across the country. Last month, Rosen took to the Senate floor to call out Congressional Republicans for this extreme budget plan that cuts Medicaid to give more tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.
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