IFT & CTU President Davis Gates on Trump’s Decision to Freeze Over $10 Billion in Childcare & Family Assistance Funds

“With more than 100,000 Illinois families at risk of losing child care, the Trump administration is doubling down on its reckless agenda to dismantle public education and punish vulnerable families.”

CHICAGO—A statement from the Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Federation of Teachers President Stacy Davis Gates on the Trump Administration plan to freeze money for social services and childcare in five states, including Illinois. 

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"On the fifth anniversary of January 6th, a day that will forever stand as a black eye on American democracy, Donald Trump and his administration continued their path of destruction, despair, and destabilization. This time, the target isn’t the Capitol—it’s the beating heart of our communities: neighborhood public schools. Once seen as the great equalizer and the foundation of the American Dream, our public schools and the federal infrastructure designed to sustain them are under direct attack by an administration that favors billionaires and corporate interests over working people and their children.

This week’s decision by the Trump administration to freeze public education funding is yet another proof point that Washington has turned its back on working families. That betrayal is even more outrageous given that Illinois and Chicago are net contributors to the federal general fund. As donors to this nation, the students and families of Illinois deserve more than underfunded classrooms and continued disinvestment in our educational communities.

Now is the moment for Governor Pritzker and lawmakers in Springfield to step up and do their jobs. They must move forward with measures that finally require the ultra-wealthy to pay their fair share, so our schools have the resources to be safe, welcoming, and truly thriving places for every student and every family.

As we remember the heinous actions of January 6th, we must also confront a hard truth: the attack on the Capitol and our democracy did not end that night. The insurrection lives on. It shows up every time Trump and his far-right allies attack the collective voice of working people and their unions. It’s there when former WWE Chair Linda McMahon plots to dismantle public education. It’s there when Trump deploys the National Guard and ICE agents into our neighborhoods, resulting in real harm and, in the recent case in Minnesota, the death of an innocent bystander.

It is also evident in the gutting of funding for community schools, child care, and family assistance. And it’s there when billionaire-backed groups like Chicago Flips Red, the Illinois Policy Institute, and the Liberty Justice Center unleash legal goons on working people and the institutions that fight for their dignity.

These groups may claim to represent communities, but they’re nothing more than political operatives bankrolled by the ultra-wealthy to destabilize public education, shutter neighborhood schools, and funnel public dollars into private pockets. Trump and his allies claim they want to “Make America Great Again”—but for whom? Cutting public school funding, dismantling childcare programs, and ripping away healthcare and food assistance isn’t greatness. It’s greed."

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The Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) represents 103,000 teachers and paraprofessionals in PreK-12 school districts throughout Illinois, faculty and staff at Illinois’ community colleges and universities, public employees under every statewide elected constitutional officer, and retirees.