WASHINGTON—Educators, students, parents and community allies participated in more than 2,000 events and social media actions throughout the country on Tuesday, March 4, as part of the AFT’s 1.8 million-member “Protect Our Kids” Day of Action to fight back against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s cruel and irresponsible attacks on public schools. Participants called on lawmakers to protect our kids and take a stand against actions that will hurt millions of students to fund tax cuts for billionaires.
Trump and Musk’s devastating cuts to the Department of Education will slash opportunities for low-income children, kids with disabilities and first-generation college students. This will force communities to raise property taxes if they want to keep critical support for vulnerable populations, said AFT President Randi Weingarten during a virtual news conference on Tuesday.
“This is robbing Peter to pay Elon,” Weingarten said. “It’s just really reckless and cruel that we would do this to our schoolchildren. Kids really need this funding, and we’ve fought for years to make sure they get it.”
Participants united to defend and expand support for public schools so that all kids are engaged and can thrive. Among the events: a virtual teach-in in Detroit; a rally at the New York State Capitol in Albany; a “clap-in” for students in Cincinnati; “walk-ins” in Chicago and Albuquerque, N.M.; letter writing in Pittsburgh and Fairfax County, Va.; and news conferences in Florida, New Jersey and Puerto Rico.
“The message is really clear and simple: It’s not okay to rob students of the education they need and deserve in order to give big tax cuts to the wealthy,” said Weingarten, who attended events in Albany and New Haven, Conn. “What you’re seeing on the ground across America are people—parents and teachers, together—saying our kids need these services. We cannot cut them.”
Read the press release here.