by Susan Van Gelder

From superintendents to students, resistance mounts against fascist attempts to destroy the world of K-12 education in America, as seen in how on Feb. 5, the day of 50 protests in 50 states against massive immigrant deportation, hundreds of Denver students walked several miles to gather at the State Capitol. “Donald Trump, don’t you hear? Immigrants are welcome here!” they chanted—on the same day ICE raided an apartment complex, Cedar Run, less than a mile from the Denver Green Elementary School.

In the spot where the school bus would usually pick up dozens of Denver Green School students was a different bus—the kind that transports prisoners. The school enrolls many migrants from Venezuela; Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials claimed they were seeking members of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.

ICE AGENTS TERRORIZE GRADE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Teacher Matt Meyer said one student asked, “Did they come to our apartment complex because we’re Hispanic?” Another student asked if ICE was going to his complex next and if his mom was safe. “I didn’t know what to say except that your mom wants you here and you’re safe here,” Meyer said. To be extra sure of that, he said that the school kept students inside for recess.

Students from at least six Denver high schools marched, chanted and carried Mexican flags and homemade signs to join others at the protest. They read: “Get rid of Ignorance not Immigrants,” “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!” and “Mexicans Ain’t Going Anywhere!”

Meanwhile, “on Jan. 29, Trump issued an executive order that sought to withhold federal funding from public K-12 schools that teach ‘discriminatory equity ideology’ or ‘gender ideology.’” It proclaimed that anything “that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups” is “discriminatory equity ideology.” That includes teachings about racism, white privilege, unconscious bias, and sexism—in other words, history and the truth. This, despite the fact that a law exists that “prevent[s the federal government] from mandating what local schools can and can’t teach.” Trump’s order also orders the new secretary of education to make a plan on how to end lessons around these topics within 90 days.

“Linda McMahon, the new head of the Education Department, said during a Senate confirmation hearing Thursday that she wasn’t sure if classes covering topics like African American history would be allowed under the executive order.”

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS FIGHT BACK

In an interview with Chalkbeat on Feb. 13, Michael Rice, State Superintendent of Education, said the Michigan Department of Education believes in teaching comprehensive history and literature, including lessons around race, racism, sexism, and xenophobia. “We think that there’s power in the whole,” he said. “We think that there’s richness in the whole—that we should be teaching not just the soaring moments of U.S. history, but the searing moments of U.S. history.”

The same day Rice sent out a memo to local superintendents in response to Trump’s order, emphasizing that educators have a moral and professional responsibility to protect and support LGBTQ+ students. The letter cited legal obligations under the state’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Rice said he doesn’t see a real threat for local districts to lose federal funding under the current executive order. Others, however, are skeptical because Trump’s Project 2025, outlines ways to destroy public education, while claiming to be returning “education back to the states.” But as Rice noted: “[I]n fact, what he is doing is imposing his will on states and local school districts, increasing, not diminishing the federal footprint.”

Federal funding makes up about 8% to 10% of funding in K-12 schools across the nation. In the Detroit Public Schools Community District it’s around 32%. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti is “seriously concerned” that Trump’s executive orders and subsequent legal challenges “could lead to the withholding, delay, and reduction of funding. The District has produced a legacy of leaders who have fought against injustice, and in this moment, we will go back to our roots and follow the example of those before us to protect our children and community from harmful policy.”

TRUMP USES BLACK HISTORY MONTH TO ATTACK DEI

On Feb. 12 the Trump administration canceled nearly $900 million in Institute of Education Sciences contracts—a massive blow to the National Center for Education Statistics, which funds research on how to improve higher education and provides publicly accessible data on U.S. postsecondary institutions. While the Education Department said that some resources such as the College Scorecard are unaffected, department employees told National Public Radio that the cuts essentially decimated the agency, hindering its ability to collect and process data and release congressionally mandated reports.

Continuing the attacks on Feb. 15—Craig Trainor, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (really) of the federal Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter directing all federally-funded schools, colleges and universities to end racial preferences in 14 days.

Then the U.S. Department of Education announced on Feb. 17 that it terminated over $600 million in grants “to institutions and nonprofits that were using taxpayer funds to train teachers and education agencies on” what they dishonestly called “divisive ideologies” and “inappropriate and unnecessary topics such as Critical Race Theory; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; social justice activism; ‘anti-racism’; and instruction on white privilege and white supremacy.”

Trump’s racist attacks during Black History Month were also evident on Feb 19 in the terms of the CARES Act—which still has $4.4 BILLION unspent. Now it is decreed, it will no longer pay directly for COVID-19 educational support, that is, services like tutoring that make up for lost classroom learning. Rather the states must pay all such expenses and submit receipts to the Department of Education. At best, reimbursement will be delayed, at worst, expenses will be rejected as “unauthorized use” of the funds.

As we all scramble to dodge these cluster bombs called Executive Orders, now, more than ever, we must reach out to others to keep clear heads and to fight back against the purpose and ramifications of this vicious campaign. It’s not just about Trump et al wiping out the hard-fought identity of the communities of those they are trying to eliminate, drown or bury.

It’s no longer an attack to “divide groups and conquer everyone.” It is intended to erase the very notion of community power: we are to be taught to be isolated generalized individuals with no history or connection to other human beings. Long ago a wise African proverb told us, “A person is a person because of others.” We refuse to be less than wholly human, and to give up on the “power and richness of the whole” in the education Americans deserve and must demand.