Will you sign the petition to demand Congress block Trump's attempt to dismantle the Department of Education?

What higher priority do we have as a nation than investing in our children's education?

Dear MoveOn member, LeVar Burton here. Over the past few years, I've teamed up with you all to push back against book bans across the country, from the MoveOn Banned Bookmobile tour to the Artists Against Book Bans campaign. Now, I'm reaching out again because the attacks on our freedom to learn are escalating, and I'd like your help! Any day now, it's anticipated that the Trump administration will issue an executive order to direct Congress to dismantle the Department of Education, an agency that communities across the country rely on to provide critical funds to our nation's students.1 And earlier this week, the Republican-majority Senate confirmed Linda McMahon as the secretary of education—a billionaire with no experience educating our nation's students. But this makes sense, given President Trump's task to "put herself out of a job."2 For more than 20 years, I worked to encourage a love of reading among children on my show Reading Rainbow. I know firsthand how transformative reading and access to education is for children. And it both breaks my heart and enrages my spirit to see some of our nation's leaders attempting to take away critical funding that is necessary for students to imagine, learn, develop, and grow. What higher priority do we have as a nation than investing in our children's education? Will you sign the petition to urge Congress to block the Trump administration's attempts to take away federal funding from our families and communities that need it most? We must all come together now to defend and protect the freedom to learn! Demand members of Congress protect every student's right to an education and block any attempts to abolish the Department of Education! I believe that every student, no matter who they are, where they live, or their abilities, deserves equal access to quality public education. The Department of Education makes that more possible by filling in the funding gaps at the state level for some of our nation's most marginalized students, including students with disabilities and from low-income communities. The agency also plays the critical role of protecting students against discrimination based on race, gender, and disability.3 Gutting this agency means ripping away funding from families that need it the most. Children with disabilities will lose special education services. Class sizes will explode and job training programs will be cut, hurting kids and families from low-income communities the most. Higher education—and the opportunities it makes possible—will be pushed out of reach for many as tuition assistance becomes unattainable. And civil rights protections would disappear, leaving students vulnerable to discrimination without recourse. The Trump administration, via Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency," has already cut $1 billion from the Department of Education's budget which was dedicated to researching educational best practices.4 And this comes at a time when children's reading achievement levels have reached new lows.5 As a lifelong literacy advocate, I'm both alarmed and, frankly, angered. Over 100,000 MoveOn members have already joined the petition calling on Congress to block Trump's attempts to gut the Department of Education. But I know there are hundreds of thousands more of us who believe in the right for every child in this country to receive free, quality education. Will you join us and sign the petition now? I hope you'll join me in signing the petition to urge Congress to block the administration's directive to gut critical education funding for our children and communities. Thanks for all you do. –LeVar Burton Sources: 1. "Draft of Trump Executive Order Aims to Eliminate Education Department," The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2025 https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/draft-of-trump-executive-order-aims-to-eliminate-education-department-5315c3a4 2. "Senate confirms Trump pick Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education," USA Today, March 4, 2025 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2025/03/03/linda-mcmahon-confirmed-as-trump-education-secretary/80513524007/ 3. "What does the Department of Education do - and can Trump dismantle it?" BBC, March 6, 2025 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79zxzj90nno 4. "Musk Team Announces Millions in Cuts to Education Dept. Amid Legal Pushback," The New York Times, February 11, 2025 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/musk-doge-education-data.html 5. "American Children's Reading Skills Reach New Lows," The New York Times, January 29, 2025 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/reading-skills-naep.html Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us? Donate: $100 monthly Donate: $200 monthly Donate: $1000 monthly Donate another amount monthly Or make a one-time gift Contributions to MoveOn Civic Action are not tax-deductible for income tax purposes. MoveOn.org Civic Action - PO Box 96141, Washington, D.C. 20090-6141. ActBlue Civics Inc. is the merchant of record for all transactions made to MoveOn Civic Action using the ActBlue platform. ActBlue Civics Inc. receives and processes these donations before disbursing them to MoveOn Civic Action within 30 days of receipt. This email was sent to Andra Patterson on March 08, 2025. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. MoveOn's privacy policy was recently updated. To read our new privacy policy, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here unsubscribe. Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from MoveOn, please click here.