NORCROSS, GA- GALEO Impact Fund strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to gut and “facilitate the closure” of the Department of Education– a detrimental overreach that threatens Latino students and harms working families. To be clear, despite the Trump Administration’s recent claims and actions, the Department of Education cannot be abolished at the whims of the President– only an official act of Congress can do that. This move will hurt students and does nothing to alleviate the economic struggles that American families and local economies continue to face.
“Gutting the Department of Education will not spur innovation, will make the United States less competitive in the global arena, and will put the American Dream further out of reach for working families,” says Kyle Gomez-Leineweber, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at GALEO Impact Fund. “This executive order threatens a generation of Latino students’ ability to contribute to our economy at a time when Georgia is already staring down the barrel of workforce shortage crises in numerous vital industries.”
The Department of Education plays an important role in ensuring access to quality education, enforcing civil rights protections, and providing critical funding for low-income families, bilingual learners, and first-generation students. Nearly 30% of students in U.S. public schools are Latino and that number is expected to continue growing; as such, young Latinos stand to lose disproportionately more if these federal funds and safeguards are stripped away.
GALEO Impact Fund urges the Trump Administration to reverse course and for our leaders in Congress to stand up for our students, teachers, and the American Dream.
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