But to win we need to be paying attention ...
It is critical not to let important attacks on American institutions slip by simply because they don't involve a racist, illegal South African immigrant and his merry band of youthful incels.
Consider the threat to public education, which is essentially two-fold: (1) financial and (2) thought control.But what you have to understand, critically, is that the legacy media, both because it needs "pants on fire" pieces to sell advertising, and because it's scared too death of the Republicans, is not going to be covering this story.
For that you have to into the increasingly important "alternative media" on the left. That's where I have drawn most but not all of the information for this post.
THE FINANCIAL THREAT
The financial threat stems from precedents that we have insanely permitted the federal government to follow for years. Why did national speed limits drop to 55 mph in many places, or blood alcohol levels become more or less standardized across the nation? Because the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) engaged in blackmail. NTSB had no statutory authority to impose either of these, but it told the states, effectively, "Adopt the standards we propose or we will cut off some or all of your federal highway construction funds." Whether you agree with lower speed limits or BAC standards, it now becomes apparent that accepting the precedent that federal agencies can enforce compliance on states (even require states to change their own laws) by arbitrarily withholding funds is bad practice.
It is what underlies the Republican drive not only to cut education funding, but to withhold funding entirely if, say, states don't adopt an anti-trans stance, or don't agree to teach the proper "patriotic" curriculum, and etc.
Ironically, this is a threat that is decidedly uneven across the nation, and would in general impact Red states worse than Blue ones; per TruthOut:
////Federal funding cuts, if they were implemented and if the Trump administration defeated or simply ignored legal challenges, could be devastating for some public school systems. Out of the total budget for public schooling in the U.S., the federal government funds just 13.6 percent. But — like South Dakota, Mississippi and North Carolina — federal funds per pupil make up nearly a quarter of schools’ already low budgets.
////And pulling federal funds would affect some areas more severely than others: are programs for disabled students and Title I programs, which provide services for low-income students. If federal funds are indeed to be used as a bludgeon to control curricula and prevent teachers from supporting trans students, the bludgeon will be aimed at some of the most vulnerable young people.
////So, the idea asserted by many news outlets that the U.S. Department of Education perhaps depends on your definition of power. Legal power? No. Coercive power, and potentially threatening ideological power? Yes. And that is what many of Trump’s executive orders are about: sowing chaos and encouraging anticipatory obedience in an attempt to maximize his administration’s power, regardless of legal authority.//// source: https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-anti-trans-education-order-relies-on-intimidation-we-must-not-yield/
Let's take a closer look at Delaware here.
According to EducationData.org, Delaware's average per pupil spending is $18,200, which is around the middle of the pack, from a high in New York of $33,400 to a low of $9,390 in Idaho. Of that, Delaware students receive an average of $2,410 from federal sources (13.2%) and $16,430 (86.8%) from state and local. source. source: https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics#delaware
(Note: these figures are at odds with those reported by the Rodel Foundation, which takes its data from the American Institutes for Research, and are above $20K. This report varies from the stats above because it is a detailed dive into Delaware, and explains with thoroughness how it is almost impossible to do the kinds of crude state-by-state comparisons that EducationData.org does because of incredibly wide variations in student funding mechanism and reporting. It should be required reading -- if heavy sledding -- for anyone serious interested in education funding reform, and I will refer to some of its conclusions lower down. Source: https://education.delaware.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/23-22933_1_Delaware_Full_Report-FMT-ed103023-Version-2.pdf )
That $2,410 per student from the federal government is deceptive, because it mixes in (albeit weighted differently) private school students because in Delaware private schools do receive a small portion of the state's federal funds. This is part and parcel of the problem that Delaware uses an antiquated funding model not employed in our nearest comparison states -- MD, PA, NJ, and VA -- which is exceptionally problematic because (a) our current funding mechanism is (1) the least equitable of the group to students who are poor, English Language Learners, or have special needs; and (2) commits the smallest percentage of state tax dollars to education of any of those states. This is despite the fact that among the comparison states Delaware has the highest percentages of ELL and students in poverty; the second-highest percent of students with disabilities; and the lowest neighborhood income scores.
As a result it should not be a surprise to anyone that the current funding mechanisms play a large part in Delaware having the lowest NAEP standardized test scores among the comparison states.
Conclusion: our funding system is already broken. Hypothetical: if our funding system is already inadequate, wouldn't we have to follow federal guidelines in order to avoid coming out even worse, especially as that federal funding is heavily weighted toward students with special needs (IDEA) and high poverty (Title I)?
The answer is NO.
Delaware receives about $377 million in federal education funding annually which, again, results in about $2,410 per student.
The current property tax increases are expected to raise revenue in 2025 by 10-15%. Let's say 10% to be safe, and knowing that property tax is about 30% of education funding, that suggests that the property taxes can account for about $546 per student, or 23% of any gap left by federal funding cuts. In addition, the General Assembly is already mooting an increase of up to $1 Billion in education funding (see https://spotlightdelaware.org/2024/07/10/delaware-school-funding-commission/#:~:text=Delaware's%20current%20funding%20formula%20was,residents%20vote%20on%20during%20referendums )
So while the loss of federal funding would hurt Delaware's grander plans for using those two additional revenue sources, they would more than offset any funding cuts the Republicans could inflict.
In addition, there are multiple proposals on the table to streamline various expenses (school bus retirement age is one of my personal favorites) and reduce or eliminate pass-through funding to private schools (which would require several laws to be changed). There is no reason I can see, for example, for the public to be paying for driver education at private schools.
Finally, it is not certain that the federal government WOULD or COULD cut off funds based on the crazy Republican ideology in play. Take, for example, the "anti-trans" provisions mandated in Executive Orders, along with the "woke ideology" bans. Neither is defined, nor can either be defined in any legally binding way. Thus it would be entirely possible to challenge such cuts as not meeting the standard established by the NTSB precedents. (Mandating a 55 mph speed limit or a .04 BAC may not be what you want, BUT they are both directly observable and objective measures. Either ALL of your speed limits signs read 55 mph or less ... or they don/t.)
Trans or "woke" ideology would be far more difficult for the Republicans to prove in court than you might think. Such cuts based on curriculum are both entirely subjective and completely unprecedented in American education history. It would arguably be easy for a coalition of Democratic AGs to challenge such nonsense successfully and achieve a restraining order on cuts until at least the federal government can come up with an objective standard to be argued. Until they do, current judicial decisions suggest a high likelihood of a stay against large-scale cuts.
In other words, we must avoid "anticipatory compliance," while refusing and resisting at every step along the way.
We cannot allow Republicans to use the power of the purse to restrict traditional local control of education.
(By the way, in such a case it would be extremely useful to quote all the times that President Trump has said variants of his January 2016 quote: "Keep education local!")
THE IDEOLOGICAL THREAT
Three paragraphs from "In These Times" sums up exactly why educators and the parents who support them must become MORE VOCAL about their values, and the curriculum they want taught in their schools rather that being timidly quiet:
////Beyond these tangible consequences, the hailstorm of actions has a broader effect. The vitriol leaves us on our back foot, always and only reactive at best and immobilized at worst. We find ourselves arguing. The education journalism outlet The Hechinger Report called it “a new culture of anxiety in education.” Every headline, every urgent text and furtive conversation and terrifying social media post comes with an insidious whisper lurking in the back of your mind. Give up, it says. Give in. Let go. This is not incidental; sowing the seeds of chaos and accumulated despair is part of the president’s fascist agenda. We are afraid, and as a result, the imminent threat of violence forecloses our ability to imagine.
////And yet, as soon as we cede the territory of the imagination, we've already lost.
///Many of us have become familiar with Toni Morrison's reminder that racism serves to distract us from our work. In the same 1975 speech, she had more to say, describing what happens when our capacity for imagination is "eroded day by day, day by day, by consistent assaults from racists." Then, Morrison says, "the will just settles into a little tiny heap of sand, and you just have a second-rate existence jammed with second-hand ideas."////
source https://inthesetimes.com/article/trumps-reign-of-terror-on-schools-and-how-we-fight-back-eve-ewing
This is actually easier ground to win on in court because it is so much easier to defend. President Trump's executive order on "anti-DEI" literally has no force of law, because -- again -- DEI is not defined in any objective fashion. That's a feature not a bug. If they DON'T define it, the EO becomes a more powerful threat for generating anticipatory compliance based on the fear of losing funding.
But if you fight back in court, that absence of a definition not only vitiates their case but places the entire burden of proof on them to establish that what your district is actually teaching is harmful to students. They cannot meet this standard in court, even if your entire curriculum is mediocre. There is an entire library of precedent on this in both education and family law, and their case falls on the absence of any statutory authority to impose or veto curriculum within states. Even if they passed a law to that effect it would be as demonstrably unconstitutional as ending birthright citizenship without an amendment.
HERE IS THE POINT: They CANNOT force us to surrender, they can only try to intimidate us into surrendering on our own. And every day we fight, every resource we make them devote to time in court, weakens their grip.
Think of it like this: if twelve states fight this, ANY decision reached in favor of continuing state and local control impacts ALL of them.
Moreover, the Republicans are attempting to sell one of the most gigantic "bait and switch" plans in the history of the world.
They are telling you that if you do not do what they want, they will cut your funding.
But House Republicans have already filed a budget CUTTING $25 Billion from public education NO MATTER WHETHER YOU COMPLY OR NOT. source https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-republicans-try-eliminate-public-education-makes-american-dream-possible#:~:text=The%20legislation%20is%20an%20assault,in%20K%2D12%20elementary%20schools
And shuttering the Department of Education -- if they manage it -- will entail more cuts.
THEY CANNOT TAKE AWAY FROM YOU WHAT THEY NEVER INTENDED TO SEND YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE.
So fuck them, and the diseased South African horse Republicans rode in on.
THE ONLY WAY OUR CHILDREN CAN LOSE THIS FIGHT IS IF WE DON'T FIGHT IT.
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