AFT Massachusetts President Jessica Tang released the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to pause all federal funding and grants:
“This thoughtless and, frankly, reckless decision to halt all federal funding will cause unprecedented harm to our students, families, and educators of the Commonwealth. In one week,President Trump has created an environment of chaos, fear and division throughout the nation and this latest announcement only cements his complete disregard for working families and their needs.
“Any freeze on federal funding our schools rely on will likely have catastrophic impacts on our ability to provide a quality public education to all. The threat alone has already created further instability and uncertainty for our schools, our students, and their families. Programs across all levels of education will be impacted – from those that ensure homeless students have access to school to special education services to work-study programs for low-income college students. Beyond programming, there are grant-funded jobs on the line. These jobs in pre-k through higher education are critical for local working families – including AFT Massachusetts members – and will vanish when the funds do.
“But, this goes far beyond our schools. Every single aspect of our society will be impacted by halting all federal grants. Police, fire, healthcare, Head Start, housing, and the list goes on. It seems that only billionaires are immune from his reckless agenda and it should cause great alarm for everyone.”