U.S. Department of Education cuts have Illinois advocates worried
There was fallout this week in Chicago over the massive shrinking of staff at the U.S. Department of Education across the country.
Students, teachers, and families are all worried about the effects.
CBS News this week met Hope Katz-Zogby, a seventh grader with Down syndrome who attends her local charter school in Baltimore, Maryland. She is able to do so because of the speech and occupational therapy she receives in the classroom.
"She's benefited from being in an inclusive classroom," said Hope's mom, Liz Zogby.
The extra support is made possible through a $15 billion program at the Department of Education. That money also assists poorer students.
But concern about the funds is growing now that staffing at the agency has been cut by nearly 50% — from 4,133 to 2,183.
"I think it's an insanely bad move," said Albert Llorens, president of the Illinois Education Association. "I think the impact on all students is going to be pretty nasty."
Llorens said if federal funding is no longer funneled to the states, it is the most vulnerable students who will suffer.
"Students that have special needs, students that are high-poverty, Black and brown students," Llorens said, "without that extra money, all those things and supports are going to dry up."
At least 50 employees will no longer work at the Chicago office of the U.S. Department of Education — including those laid off in the Office for Civil Rights and Federal Student Aid.
The department is also reportedly terminating leases in several cities, including Chicago. The Chicago offices of the Department of Education are located in the Kluczynski Federal Building, which the federal government has said it plans to sell.
"When we cut, we want to cut, but we want to cut the people that aren't working or not doing a good job," President Trump said Wednesday. "We're keeping the best people."
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement Tuesday: "Today's reduction in force reflects the Department of Education's commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers. I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the Department. This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system."
The goal, McMahon has said, is to get rid of the department altogether.
"I don't see this as reform or efficiency," said Dan Montgomery president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. "It's total destruction."
Montgomery said he has been hearing "concern and fear" from his members.
The cuts at the Department of Education are expected to be a key topic at a huge meeting of teachers in Rosemont Thursday morning. Montgomery, along with more than 1,000 teachers and Gov. JB Pritzker, will be on hand to address the federal cuts.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Doechii Calls Out Trump Administration for ‘Creating Fear and Chaos' at L.A. Protests in BET Awards Speech
Doechii made the most of her first BET Award win on Monday night, telling an audience of honorees and attendees at the Peacock Theater that she felt a 'responsibility as an artist' to address the immigration protests and raids in Los Angeles. 'I do want to address what's happening right now, outside the building,' said Doechii, referring to the protests happening in Downtown Los Angeles, home of the Peacock Theater. 'These are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities. In the name of law and order, Trump is using military forces to stop a protest, and I want you all to consider what kind of government it appears to be — when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us.' More from Variety BET Awards Winners 2025 (Updating Live) Kendrick Lamar, Doechii and Drake Lead 2025 BET Award Nominations Kevin Hart to Host 2025 BET Awards California National Guard troops arrived in the city on Sunday in a show of force following division between immigration agents and protesters and amid a burgeoning fight between California and the Trump administration. Protests started on Friday after Immigration Customs Enforcement officers carried out raids in three locations across Los Angeles, where dozens of people were taken into custody, per NBC News. Doechii said she would use her voice to stand up for 'all oppressed people, for Black people, for Latino people, for trans people, for the people in Gaza.' She continued, 'What type of government is that? People are being swept up and torn from their families? We all deserve to live in hope and not in fear. And I hope we stand together my brothers and my sisters against hate and we protest against it.' Doechii won the award for best female hip-hop artist, a category that also recognized Cardi B, Doja Cat, Glorilla, Latto, Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj, Rapsody and Sexyy Red as nominees. Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bob Costas: Trump's attacks on the media are unlike anything in my lifetime
'The free press is under attack,' Bob Costas said at an awards ceremon y Monday evening. 'Democracy as we know it is under attack.' The famed sports broadcaster was at the Edison Ballroom podium in New York, accepting a lifetime achievement Mirror Award for his 'distinct, consistent and unique contributions to the public's understanding of the media.' What began as a speech reflecting upon a 50-year career in sports journalism quickly became a scorching sermon about the state of sports media and the threats to the free press coming from President Donald Trump. 'What's happening now are not matters of small degree,' Costas, 73, said of the Trump administration's attacks on journalism, including personal lawsuits, FCC investigations, and crackdowns on press access. 'They're different in kind to anything certainly in my lifetime and maybe in the history of the American presidency.' The president 'intimidated ABC into reviewing George Stephanopoulos,' Costas said of the network settling Trump's 2024 defamation lawsuit brought against it after the star anchor repeatedly said on-air that Trump had been 'found liable for rape' in the E. Jean Carroll case when a jury had found him liable for sexual abuse. 'All they should have said was George misspoke,' the sportscaster said. 'They didn't have to pay a $15 million ransom.' Costas then turned his attention to CBS News. 'Did Shari Redstone — because she wants to effect a merger that Trump's FCC could stand in the way of — did she have to besmirch and undercut the gold standard in our lifetime of broadcast journalism, '60 Minutes?'' Redstone, 71, currently controls Paramount Global, the global media company that owns CBS News. She is seeking to sell her stake in the company as part of a merger with Skydance Media, but the deal needs approval from the Trump administration. As a result, Redstone has reportedly sought to settle the president's lawsuit against CBS over a '60 Minutes' segment — a lawsuit that legal experts have repeatedly deemed bogus — sparking outcry from the network's journalists. 'Paying $20 million in ransom to Trump is just the cost of doing business when there's billions of dollars at stake,' Costas remarked. (ABC and CBS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.) 'These are ongoing assaults on the basic idea of a free press,' he said. 'It does not mean that we are without fault,' Costas said. 'It does not mean that the legacy or mainstream media doesn't screw up from time to time or have blind spots or misplaced narratives.' However, he added, 'if the answer to that is MAGA media, if the answer to that is Donald Trump's view of the world, which is only through a prism of what benefits him… I'll stay where we are.' 'I used to love Bob Costas, but then he turned political,' Costas said he's often heard from sports fans. 'You know what, if that's what you think and that's how you think and you think it in defense of that guy, I wear that as a badge of honor.' Costas has often drawn criticism from fellow sports broadcasters for using his perch to bring attention to political issues. In one particularly famous instance in December 2012, he devoted his 'Sunday Night Football' segment to make a plea for gun control after a Kansas City Chiefs linebacker shot and killed his girlfriend and then himself outside the team's practice facility. Costas, who left NBC Sports in 2019 after 40 years there, also lamented the current state of sports broadcasting, which he said 'tragically' lacks in-depth coverage of the political and social issues intimately connected to the games themselves. Such issues, he said, 'need to be covered, not during the game, not in between pitches, or in between free throws, but at some point need to be covered.' Costas suggested that broadcasters have become deferential to the sports leagues, avoiding interrogative questions or controversial topics altogether. 'With all the hundreds and hundreds of hours of coverage, let's say, of the NFL, can't there be a 'Meet the Press'-style interview of (commissioner) Roger Goodell somewhere?' He quipped: 'Sports isn't brain surgery, but it doesn't have to be brain dead either.'
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Back to the Supreme Court: Alabama plans 3rd appeal in congressional redistricting suit
Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard (left, at podium), speaks to Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile during a special session on redistricting on Friday, July 21, 2023 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Attorney General's Office plans to go to the U.S. Supreme Court a third time in an ongoing lawsuit over Alabama's congressional districts. The office filed notice of an intent to appeal Friday. Late on Monday, the office and plaintiffs who successfully challenged a 2021 state congressional map said in a court filing they had failed to reach an agreement in the ongoing lawsuit. While the state has indicated it will stick with a court-drawn congressional map that includes two districts with majority or near-majority populations of Black voters, the state and the plaintiffs disagreed on whether the court should oversee any future problems or challenges related to congressional redistricting after the 2030 Census. 'What we've always requested with respect to preclearance is that Alabama be put under preclearance for congressional maps through the post-2030 redistricting cycle, and that's to confirm that there's no backsliding after 2030 with any new district lines that get drawn,' said Deuel Ross, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund representing the plaintiffs, in a phone interview Tuesday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A three-judge panel in the U.S. Northern District of Alabama, which includes two judges appointed by President Donald Trump, has repeatedly ruled that the 2021 congressional map approved by the Alabama Legislature violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by failing to give Black Alabamians a meaningful opportunity to elect their preferred leaders. The panel has cited racial polarization of voting in the state — where white Alabamians tend to support Republicans and Black Alabamians tend to support Democrats — in ordering the state to draw districts that give Black Alabamians the ability to substantially participate in the process. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 twice upheld the lower court rulings. Federal court: Alabama Legislature intentionally discriminated against Black voters in redistricting Messages seeking comment were left with the offices of the Alabama Attorney General and Secretary of State on Tuesday. 'They're saying they're not going to redistrict before the 2030 census, but they're obviously challenging the map as well, so it's not as if they're giving up,' Ross said. Alabama has until June 16 to file a brief on the position. The plaintiffs will have until June 23 to file a response, and any reply should be filed by June 27. If the three-judge panel decides a hearing is necessary, they will schedule it for July 29. The three-judge panel has repeatedly criticized the Legislature for drawing a map in a 2023 special session that it said did not follow its guidance on drawing congressional districts. The court appointed a special master to draw the map that will now be used for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 election cycles, as well as any special election. That map was also used in the 2024 elections, when U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, won in the 2nd Congressional District last November. That election marked the first time in history that Alabama elected two Black U.S. Representatives at the same time. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
