COPAA opposes the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Doing so poses a serious threat to public education. As advocates, we know that these unprecedented actions will result in devastating and irreversible harm to our students, communities, and country, both in the short and long term. Without federal safeguards, students with disabilities, students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and other underserved student populations will face increased disparities in access to a high-quality education.  The following resources are from our colleagues at EdTrust. 

ED provides $85 billion in crucial education investments, serving over 50 million K-12 students and more than 15 million college students nationwide. It also administers more than $100 billion annually in Pell Grants and student loans to support postsecondary access and success. Draconian cuts to federal funding and staff put all students at risk.  

EdTrust has developed an advocacy toolkit with a series of resources, including:  

• The #SaveOurStudents landing page  – This advocacy hub has example actions, sample messaging, social media posts, and guidance on publicly discussing this issue and links out to other resources.  
• The #SaveOurStudents media toolkit – This toolkit includes guides for writing press releases, letters to the editor, blogs, and op-eds and engaging media effectively. 
• A series of state 1 pagers outlining the specific impact of federal funding on your state’s education system and what’s at stake for your state by losing federal education aid. The webpage also includes an interactive data tool with state-level funding data.