PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — One day after the U.S. Senate confirmed former wrestling executive Linda McMahon to head the U.S. Department of Education, Philadelphia activists rallied against the Trump administration's proposed cuts in federal education funding.
Organized by the American Federation of Teachers, it was billed as a national day of action.
“I never thought the day would come where we would look at the possibility of public education being dismantled,” said Isaiah Thomas, chair of Philadelphia City Council’s education committee. Thomas was among the elected officials and union leaders at a news conference Tuesday at Widener Memorial School in Olney.
Widener is the only school in the state exclusively serving special education students. It’s a school that relies on funding from the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, said Principal Theresa Harrington. “Without IDEA money, we wouldn’t really have a Widener,” Harington told KYW Newsradio.
Widener special education teacher Paul Breen says his school would suffer if federal money was cut. “[Reducing] the funding here for Widener would be catastrophic,” Breen said. “Funding allows for small class sizes and also for related services that our children receive.” Those services include speech and language support and physical and occupational therapy, he said.
Philadelphia gets more than $500 million each year in annual federal support, including $56 million for special education and $178 million in Title I funding.
“When they attack the Department of Education, or Title I, they’re not aiming at some faceless office in Washington, D.C.,” said Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, a senior attorney with the Public Interest Law Center. “They’re aiming at our teachers. They’re aiming at our children.”
Philadelphia state Rep. Darisha Parker promised to speak out against federal cuts to public education. “Not on our watch. Not today, not tomorrow, not never,” she said. “You will not cut our children. You will not disenfranchise African-American people who need this.”
Widener 11th grader Taisha Cruz, 17, said physical therapy and occupational therapy at school is essential for many students. “We need PT, OT just to feel free. It gives us a sense of freedom that you’ll never understand,” she said. “Hearing there’s a possibility that it might be taken down, it’s sad.”