1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

As your constituent, I urge you to protect our children and fight for the Department of Education and the opportunities it provides. Dismantling the department will deprive students across our nation of crucial programs and protections they depend on. Public schools enroll 90% of America’s students—and 95% of students with disabilities—in communities of all descriptions across America. These schools have a special significance in rural areas, where they are often the only schools and also serve as community hubs. If the Education Department is broken apart, the rights of students—particularly our most vulnerable—to an education that imparts academic lessons, civil rights protections, and life skills, and prepares them for the future, will be undercut. This will not only affect individual students and families; it will ultimately sow discord, widen economic disparities, and endanger our democracy. The fallout from this dangerous plan would include: • Larger class sizes and less one-on-one attention for students in public schools; • Fewer resources and basic rights for students with disabilities; • Less access to programs, such as Upward Bound and TRIO, that encourage lower-income students and students with disabilities to attend college; and • Cuts to afterschool and summer programs that augment in-school learning and skill-building. The Department of Education was founded to help provide all students, no matter where they live, the color of their skin, or how much their family makes, with a quality public school. Under Trump and McMahon, many life-changing educational opportunities could be eliminated. America has come a long way in the nearly 50 years since the Department of Education was created. We must not back-track on that progress. Please fight the reckless plan to close the Department of Education