The scheme by the Trump administration to diminish the American Dream for millions of our sons and daughters by redirecting $1.9 billion in desperately needed federal Pell Grant funds to an effort to put astronauts back on the moon is an absolute disgrace.
This anti-education plan, which has been met by widespread condemnation from educators across the country, is another front in the counter-revolution. It is part of an all-out assault on everything we’ve fought for and won in the last 65 years – civil rights, women’s rights, children’s right, the right to breathe fresh air and drink clean water, voting rights, worker’s rights and the right to a decent education.
Pell Grants have been a significant factor in closing the gaps for those who are underserved and underprivileged. Many poor schools survive on Pell Grants.
Fighting back against the assault on our decades of progress is why the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and PUSH for Excellence held an educational summit in Chicago on Friday, May 17, 2019 – the 65th anniversary of the monumental Brown v. Board of Education decision.
We convened scholars, journalists, business leaders, school superintendents, teachers, parents and other stakeholders to discuss the crisis in education in America, including the lack of equity in funding and the re-segregation of schools throughout the country.
The Trump administration’s plan to take money from needy children and from underfunded schools and send it to the moon will only compound the crisis. It shows a total disregard for the middle-class and the poor to have a chance at a decent education.