WASHINGTON – Trump administration education policies are hostile to civil rights and are intentionally dismantling protections intended to help students, and the efforts must be countered by voting and other civic involvement.
That was the overarching message of educators on a panel Thursday at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 48th Annual Legislative Conference at the Walter Washington Convention Center.
In an “education braintrust” session titled “Reclaiming Our Civil Rights: Combating the Administration’s Assault on Education,” speakers cited Justice Department rollback of Obama-era policies that offered guidance to schools on matters of equity and civil rights, as well as actions by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on issues ranging from special education disparities to sexual assault that reverse progress toward student well-being and educational equality.
“Things are every bit as bad as any of us imagined they might be with respect to education and civil rights,” said Catherine Lhamon, chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “The strongest and most consistent message that we hear from this administration and the Department of Education is to undermine.”
The administration’s current review of guidance policies designed to reduce racially disproportionate discipline in elementary and secondary schools is one of many signs of “the scary precipice at which we find ourselves now,” Lhamon said. “We must make a way out of no way. We have to find a way forward because too much is at stake.”
The administration’s scale-back of efforts to stop predatory student loan practices hinders equal access and is essentially an assault on students, particularly minority, low-income, first-generation and other underrepresented students who rely most heavily on federal loans to pay for higher education, said Mary Cathryn Ricker, executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers.
“It’s no secret that this administration has set in place serious and brazen” efforts to dismantle the education department and impede civil rights, she said.
