WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this week joined a spotlight hearing titled: “Dismantling Education: What the Trump Administration’s Illegal Attacks on Federal Programs Mean for Students, Families, and Educators,” to highlight how the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education would be detrimental for Vermont’s students, families, educators, and schools. 

“The Trump Administration has taken a wrecking ball to essential federal education programs like Title I, which ensure first-generation, rural, and lower-income students get an equal opportunity to learn and grow. Despite our taxpayers spending one of the highest rates in the country for our students’ education, Vermont now ranks well below the national average on reading and math scores. Just a decade ago, our students scored the 4th highest in the country,” said Senator Welch. “Instead of trying to dismantle the Department of Education, we should be doing everything in our power to give students the resources they need to succeed.” 

Senator Welch’s exchange with Rachel Gittleman, President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, focused on how the Trump Administration’s policies have endangered the ability of vital federal programs like TRIO to help hundreds of underserved students in Vermont succeed at higher education institutions.  

Ms. Gittleman emphasized how the Trump Administration’s proposal to move the TRIO program to the Department of Labor would be disastrous for students and TRIO’s program infrastructure: “This has already led to students and higher education institutions dropping out of the program for fear of retaliation—not because these students are not citizens, but because they support high immigrant populations at these institutions. This move is nothing but harmful to the very students who rely on this funding just to have the same opportunities as kids from other backgrounds.” 

Watch Senator Welch’s full remarks below: 

The bicameral forum focused on the Trump Administration’s recent proposal to illegally move nearly all federal K-12 programs—and many higher education programs—to other federal agencies, which have limited capacity and no prior experience to run such programs. Last month, the Department of Education announced that it would partner with the Departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State to conduct the transfer of these programs. This move would fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise to eliminate the Department of Education and weaken the federal government’s role in ensuring that all students have access to a quality education. 

At the forum, witnesses comprised of K-12 education leaders and civil rights experts spoke about how abolishing the Department of Education—and moving education programs to other federal agencies—would harm students across the country, especially those from low-income, rural, Native, migrant, and federally-impacted communities.  

The forum featured testimony from Rachel Gittleman; Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers; Denise Forte, President and CEO, The Education Trust; Dr. Amy Loyd, CEO, All4Ed; Chad Rummel, Executive Director, Council for Exceptional Children; and Angelica Infante-Green, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, Rhode Island Department of Education. 

The forum was led by Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and attended by Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). 

Watch a livestream of the spotlight forum here. 

###