This month, our children’s education and well-being has taken on direct and dramatic attacks.
After a March 4 Presidential Address to a Joint Session of Congress, which both commodified and exploited children, on March 11, the Secretary of Education announced a reduction in force cutting the department’s team—responsible for ensuring educational excellence and access for all America’s children—from 4,133 to 2,183 workers.
On March 14, the United States Congress passed a continuing resolution extending spending through September, cutting non-defense spending by $13 billion while increasing defense spending by $6 billion and give the President wide latitude to further diminish the capacity of the federal government to serve children and families. On March 20, the President signed an executive order to “close” the Department of Education, shifting functions for student loan administration, special education supports, and civil rights enforcement to other agencies, impacting federal funding streams of more than $150 billion per year. Meanwhile, Congressional leaders are debating a budget plan to cut $880 billion per year. This will jeopardize the health care of 37.6 million children supported by the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid, as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is preparing to announce layoffs and restructuring of the workforce which administers these programs.
Unfortunately, these actions from the first 100 days of a new presidential administration have the potential to undermine and undo two generations of grassroots work from dedicated child advocates to improve the lives of young people.
In 1974, when the country lacked the benefits and protections of a federal Department of Education or Congressional commitment to the Individuals with Disabilities and Education Act, CDF leaders painted the picture of need and impact on children’s lives. In the landmark report, Children Out of School in America, project directors (including Marian Wright Edelman and the late MaryLee Allen) led a team of nearly 200 CDF staff and local policy monitors (including Hillary Rodham (Clinton), Oleta Fitzgerald, and attorney Andrea Young, to frame the ways in which poverty, school discipline polices, unmet special needs, inequitable funding, and othering kept students from the teaching they needed to do better in life.
From 1993 to 2019, children’s flourishing dramatically improved. In 2022, researchers at ChildTrends released the positive results of a study on changes in child well-being in the period. They found that family-supporting programs, like healthcare coverage and minimum wage increases, drove sharp declines in child poverty. This key indicator of economic security and mobility dropped by 59%.
It feels like our leaders want to turn back the clock and sentence our children in the way back machine.
Children’s Defense Fund refuses to go back! As you will read in this edition of For Our Children, our team, volunteers, and partners are fighting for a bright future even in a dark moment. As we noted in our response to the executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, we are organizing days of action, modeling culturally responsive literacy and leadership education, keeping vigil at the Capitol calling Congress to moral action, mobilizing child advocates, and painting the picture of a fresh vision for children’s rights in America. Join us as we put children first, by giving and acting, for them. Now more than ever, your financial support and voluntarism are needed to protect the progress of recent years and unleash the joy in growing up for a new generation.