Gov. JB Pritzker warned at an Illinois Education Association convention Thursday that cuts to federal education funding could “damage the future of the people of Illinois,” shortly after the state sued to stop President Donald Trump’s moves to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
Pritzker thanked the delegates present for their support of children and the “sacrifices” they’ve made to “shape the future of this great state and this nation.”
“Instead of proposing anything to improve math reading scores for students or to support those who work long hours to educate our children, they’re making it harder for working-class students and their parents to get ahead by firing more than half of the department’s workforce with no notice and no due process,” Pritzker said.
The Department of Education initiated mass layoffs Tuesday night, terminating up to 50% of its employees. “We’re witnessing one of the most brazen and aggressive efforts to undermine public education in America,” Pritzker said.
Trump has mulled an executive order to close the agency since he took office in January. With Linda McMahon recently sworn in as the department’s education chief, the president has said he wants her to “put herself out of a job.”
The dismantling of the department and the recent large-scale firings will have a “profound effect on schools in Illinois,” Illinois Education Association President Al Llorens said in a statement Wednesday.
Over 1,000 Illinois school districts and educational entities receive Title 1 funding to support the poorest students, aiding nearly 1 million students, according to the statement. More than 1,000 entities receive funding through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, supporting almost 300,000 students. Also receiving Title 1 funding are over 260,000 Pell Grant recipients and over 28,000 children enrolled in Head Start.
These programs have proven vital for the state’s more vulnerable students, and cutting the department would be “deeply harmful to Illinois students and our communities,” Llorens said.
“The U.S. Department of Education was founded to help realize the promise of a quality public school for every student no matter where they live, the color of their skin or how much money their family makes,” Llorens said. “It does not dictate what schools teach kids or how they educate them. It is part of the fabric that is public education in the United States and it is public education that works as the great equalizer for our country.”
Also on Thursday, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a lawsuit seeking to stop the Trump administration’s “dismantling” of the Department of Education and to slow the mass layoffs of employees.
As Illinois students rely on the Department of Education to oversee the processing and release of their financial aid to “make informed decisions about pursuing postsecondary education,” Raoul said in a statement, the Trump administration’s “unlawful, unconstitutional action” will destroy this process.
“Using mass layoffs to effectively dismantle a department that has its responsibilities set in federal law is yet another example of this administration’s unconstitutional and unlawful overreach,” Raoul said.
Raoul, as part of a coalition of 20 attorneys general, is seeking a court order to stop the administration’s workforce and program cuts that would “dismantle” the department, his office said. Pritzker thanked him Thursday for “fighting what Donald Trump is trying to do to education.”
Speaking with reporters after his speech, Pritzker didn’t say exactly what programs in Illinois could be on the chopping block with the proposed dismantling of the Department of Education. He also noted that there’s still a lot of uncertainty about whether the administration’s actions will match its words.
But in general, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are trying to “diminish, if not do away with” certain standards for children, he said.
“One of those standards is that every disabled child should be able to get an education,” he said. Another is “that every one of the kids who qualify should be able to go to college,” he added.
That makes it crucial to rally public support and continue fighting the administration in court, the governor said.
At the same time, Pritzker reiterated that the state can’t pick up the bill for billions of dollars lost in potential overall cuts to federal funding.
“We’re all about lifting everybody up. If the federal government is not going to be a part of that, truly, they are going to damage the future of the people of Illinois and the future of this state,” he said.
The new administration has cut the U.S. Department of Education by about half, and Trump has said he wants to dismantle it completely. Trump has said the department is wasteful and a bastion for left-wing indoctrination.
Amy Ellis, a teacher in the downstate Triad school district, said she agreed with the governor that protecting public education means protecting the Department of Education.
“It’s time to quit treating education as a business. It’s not a business,” Ellis said. “Our bottom line (is) kids and making them be successful, thriving adults. We can’t do that if you’re undercutting everything that we’re doing.”
Emily Wittenauer, a teacher in the same downstate district, said any plans to dismantle the Department of Education are “shortsighted.”
There are “things falling through the cracks, especially in special education. To not fund that or have people oversee that is crazy,” Wittenauer said.
