The Republican Dismantling of Public Education

13 snips

Sep 11, 2025

Guest

Sheria Smith

Stacey Abrams hosts Christina Rojas, a dedicated speech-language pathologist, Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, and Sheria Smith, an attorney and education advocate. They discuss the alarming impact of political actions on public education, highlighting funding cuts, increased class sizes, and the risks posed to special education. The guests emphasize the crucial link between a strong public education system and a healthy democracy, calling for community involvement to safeguard educational equity and support vulnerable students.

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INSIGHT

Defunding As An Autocratic Tactic

Stacey Abrams connected defunding education to step four of the autocratic playbook: breaking public trust by making government seem to fail.
She argued that when public education is broken, people stop believing government can deliver for them, weakening democracy.

ANECDOTE

Classroom Reality Check

Christina Rojas described a typical 20-student classroom with multiple needs including refugees, non-English speakers, and students with special education needs.
She highlighted that many students arrive economically disadvantaged and behind in reading and math, creating intense demands on teachers.

INSIGHT

Taxpayer Funds Belong To Public Schools

Rojas argued that diverting public funds to private vouchers undermines equitable access because taxpayer money should support inclusive public schools.
She maintained that public schools staying open to all is a core democratic value and vouchers can finance discriminatory private options.

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As back-to-school season kicks off, the Trump Administration has gutted the Department of Education, and his Republican allies in Congress have followed suit by slashing funds for our public schools. Locally, GOP governors and state legislators are jamming through private school voucher bills paid for with public dollars. That means rollbacks to special education services, massive cuts to Title I grants that support low-income students, and reduced civil rights enforcement in public schools. And that’s not all – the Republican budget bill slashes funding for free meals for students while ICE is showing up on playgrounds and at school drop-offs. Public education has long been an ideological battleground for many on the right, but now in Trump 2.0, we risk having authoritarians teach a version of America where most of our children will be footnotes. This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook - Step 4. When public education fails, people start to believe nothing works, and they start to forget what a functioning democracy is supposed to do: deliver for the people.That’s why this week on Assembly Required, Stacey Abrams brings in the experts to break down Trump’s slash-and-burn agenda and what it means for the people who feel it most: schoolchildren. First, she talks with Christina Rojas, a veteran public school speech-language pathologist, about what’s really happening on the ground. Then, she’s joined by Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, and Sheria Smith, President of AFGE 252 & attorney for the Office of Civil Rights, for a panel discussion.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

Learn & Do More:

BE CURIOUS: To learn how the right wing’s attacks on public education have misled policymakers and parents, read Death and the Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch.
SOLVE PROBLEMS: Protecting education is a job for all of us. Attend a school board meeting where you live before December to learn about what’s happening in your community’s schools. Don’t assume everyone knows what’s going on - talk to your neighbors about the issues you care about most. And empower your older children to join you in these efforts.
DO GOOD: With cuts to SNAP, many children will not have access to regular meals. Consider joining up with neighbors to put together weekend food backpacks for kids. Visit www.feedingamerica.org and search “backpack program” for more information.