Statement by National NOW President Christian F. Nunes
WASHINGTON — We need the government to provide what every student in this country deserves—not unfair treatment but an equal chance to access quality education. No child left behind? Those words ring hollow today.
Too many girls don’t complete school, and too many women don’t achieve their own education and career goals, because of the connection between education, poverty, and economic dependency.
Mothers who are single and support their families are twice as likely to live in poverty than breadwinning fathers who are single.
Shutting down the Department of Education means more women will have to rely on public assistance programs like SNAP, Medicaid and housing benefits – and given this administration’s pattern of cutting off services from people who need help the most – who knows how long those will be around. The gender equity gap already costs our economy $3.1 trillion—Trump and Musk’s wrecking ball will send that number skyrocketing even further.
Since 1975, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), has made it possible for students who were not previously allowed to attend public school to be in a classroom. But Donald Trump wants to turn back the clock, gut those laws, and go back to stigmatizing, segregating, and ‘othering’ children with disabilities.
NOW supports the lawsuit filed by a coalition of education, civil rights, and school employee groups to keep the Department of Education open, restore the staff that were summarily fired, and carry out its mandatory functions to protect student civil rights.
Women and girls need these programs and taking them away will hurt everyone.