Chants of “feed our kids, not the rich” and “educate, don’t discriminate” rang out Wednesday morning as local and national education union leaders and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) teachers rallied in front of Takoma Park Middle School in solidarity with other schools protesting nationwide against recent federal actions impacting public education.
“The current attack on public education is sickening. It’s infuriating,” Teri Kanu, a special education teacher at nearby Takoma Park Elementary, told Bethesda Today during the protest. “Public education matters. My students matter, teachers matter, and a strong public education system builds a strong community.”
Kanu was one of dozens of MCPS teachers along with a few of their students who were led by Montgomery County Education Association President David Stein, National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle and County Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) during the “walk-in” focused on supporting public education. The walk-in, during which protesters walked into the middle school, was one of many across the nation organized by the NEA.
The national walk-in events were organized in response to the Trump administration’s actions and efforts to gut the federal workforce by cutting funding or making sweeping changes that are impacting all parts of the federal government, including the Department of Education.
In January, the administration rescinded 2021 guidance that created areas protected from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including schools. On Jan. 29, Trump issued an executive order threatening to pull funding from districts that support “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”
Grants and contracts for education research and federal funding for some colleges have been canceled. The U.S. education department cut its workforce by half in March. And a draft executive order seen by several news organizations directed the U.S. education security Linda McMahon to take steps to close the education department “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
Following Trump’s election, local education leaders expressed fear over the impacts that eliminating the Department of Education could have on MCPS. The department establishes policy, and administers and coordinates most federal assistance for education, according to its website.
According to an MCPS report presented Nov. 12 to the County Council, the district has received about 3% of its budget from the federal government since 2015. In fiscal year 2025, which began July 1, the district is expected to receive 3.4% of its revenue from the federal government. With a fiscal year 2025 budget of $3.3 billion, roughly $112 million is expected to come in the form of federal funding.
Stein said during Wednesday’s protest that while the federal government may only pay for a small portion of the MCPS budget, the funding impacts the district’s most vulnerable students, including those living in poverty or with disabilities.
“And when they are attacking the Department of Education, they are attacking our students, and we are not going to stand for that,” Stein said.
Pringle said the “ultimate goal of these billionaires,” referring to Trump and his adviser, Elon Musk, was to destroy public education. She said her father, who was a history teacher, taught her that taking away the right to learn from citizens would lead to society declining.
“We know that public education is the foundation of this or any democracy, and we are going to reclaim it as a common good,” Pringle told the crowd. “And we’re not going to stop there … because we have to transform it into a racially and socially just and equitable system that prepares every student.”
Among those in the crowd was sixth grader Joe Leckie who walked early to school Wednesday morning to join his teachers in opposing “the injustice” of federal government cuts.
“There’s been just too many cuts in the government,” Joe said. “I’ve had friends’ parents [who] have been very affected … and I think that another cut is just unfair.”
Jawando, chair of the council’s education committee and a former Department of Education employee, said the federal education department was created to ensure all students had access to equitable education.
“We’re going to fight for … all of our kids to make sure that this democracy remains strong, and it won’t happen without you,” Jawando told the crowd. “It won’t happen without education.”
