(LEX 18) — People at a rally in Washington D.C. on Wednesday voiced their opposition to President Donald Trump's announcement to cut the Department of Education, and the Kentucky Education Association president was there to speak for all educators in the Bluegrass.
It's a scary time for educators as President Trump threatens to gut the U.S. Department of Education and slash its spending. That's why hundreds of people, including Eddie Campbell, the Kentucky Education Association president, stood tall on Capitol Hill in D.C. to face lawmakers.
"It's important that our voices are heard. So, I want to be there on the hill having conversations with our lawmakers who are elected in the state of Kentucky. You know I was elected by our members to represent them, so being here to make sure their voices are being carried to D.C.," explains Campbell.
President Trump claims the department has been infiltrated by "radicals, zealots, and Marxists." Several people have made claims that the department is a waste of taxpayer money.
According to Campbell, 89% of students in Kentucky are eligible for free or reduced lunch through federal dollars. Recently, a decline in reading scores was published on the Nation's Report Card.
"The question is, are we losing something and who's losing? It's our students and our educators and our public education system that's actually losing here. And the fact our students are going to be losing those supports," questions Campbell.
Alongside the removal of the department, talks of the Institute of Educational Sciences Research, which takes student's progress and makes recommendations to better public education, could also be cut.
Campbell says their first concern is the students and making sure they have the resources to succeed.
"We have a teacher shortage right now. A lot of those dollars help to support making sure that we have highly skilled and highly qualified educators in the classroom, beside our students. Working with them every single day," said Campbell.
Campbell says they need people standing up for their public schools and the community as a whole.
