'The incompetence and lack of qualifications of some MPS staff put our children in harm’s way, and this is the result of decades of intentional neglect from state policymakers who starve public schools of the resources needed to keep them safe and functional.' | Getty Images

I am a proud parent of a first grader in Milwaukee Public Schools. We are an open enrollment family, meaning that even though we don’t live in the district, we choose to send our kids to MPS because we love our public school’s mission, curriculum, and teachers. But right now, my daughter’s school is closed. Not because of a snowstorm or a spring break, but because the building is so contaminated with lead that it is undergoing emergency remediation. 

As we work to unravel how deep the lead problem goes and how we’re going to fix it, we know that two things are true: 1) the incompetence and lack of qualifications of some MPS staff has put our children in harm’s way, and 2) this is the result of decades of intentional neglect from state policymakers who starve public schools of the resources needed to keep them safe and functional. While there’s blame to go around within the school system, it extends far beyond Milwaukee—all the way to the statehouse.

But let’s take a step back for a moment: imagine a thriving community garden. Lush with fruits and veggies, it’s a vibrant hub of cooperation. Gardeners, volunteers, and neighbors work side by side, cultivating a space that nourishes the entire community. 

And now, imagine a group of lawmakers find out about this garden and see it not for what it provides to the community, but as an opportunity for political favors. They want it. But they can’t take it outright—not yet. So instead they sabotage it, slowly and methodically.

First, they put limits on water usage. Next, they dilute the fertilizer. Then, they restrict access to tools, making it harder for the gardeners to do their work. As the plants begin to wither, the weeds take over. The once-thriving garden now appears neglected and struggling, despite the community doing their best with what they’ve been given. 

Then, the lawmakers point the finger at the very people who have been desperately trying to keep the garden alive. “You’re failing.” they say. 

And with that, they present their “solution.” “This garden can’t be saved,” they declare. “It’s time to give this land to someone who can do something with it.”

So they sell the land to a private company—one that rips out the plants and paves over the garden to install a private- pay parking lot. The community is locked out, the public loses, and the private company profits. “It’s better for everyone this way,” the lawmakers insist, knowing full well who really benefits.

But they aren’t done yet. In return for their part in the heist, they collect their rewards—  campaign donations, future job offers. A shared community resource is gone, transformed into private gain.

This is what’s happening to Milwaukee Public Schools.

Most MPS parents love and appreciate so much about our own public schools for the vibrant, nurturing communities they are—and for all they could be with the right support. But for years, some lawmakers in Madison have been quietly undermining our public education system — capping resources, limiting access and restricting funding. They’ve been misrepresenting outdated formulas to intentionally starve our public schools, making it harder for teachers and administrators to provide the quality education our kids deserve. Milwaukee voters recently passed a big referendum because people in the community want to support our schools. The news about poor financial reporting that followed that successful referendum drive was extremely discouraging. But problems with school administration pale in comparison to the impossible conditions the state has created for our schools. When they inevitably struggle under those conditions (frustrating every singe one of us) the same lawmakers who have been withholding funds shake their heads and blame the administrators and educators who have been forced to do more with less.

What happens next? They argue that public schools have failed and insist that privatization is the only answer. They push to divert public funds into private hands — voucher schools, for-profit education corporations and other institutions that lack the transparency and accountability of public education, but promise big profits for those in power.

They spout platitudes about how much they care about improving education, but they have had every chance to help us nourish our gardens and have resisted at every turn. We cannot let them gaslight us into dismantling a public good for private enrichment and turning our children’s future into a business model that benefits the few at the expense of the many.

Because here’s the truth: Our public schools are not failing. They are being sabotaged. There are some powerful Madison lawmakers who are forcing our school administrators to choose between things like fixing peeling paint in classrooms or hiring a new teacher, all so they can have someone to blame– when in reality, they themselves are the ones who have failed to provide enough for our kids to thrive in all the ways they deserve. They’ve been playing us for a long con, but we’re onto them. 

We must demand true nourishment and resources for our public schools. We must reject the false narrative of “failure” that is being used to justify their destruction. And we must hold lawmakers accountable for the choices they make—because our children’s education should never be for sale.

This year, Madison lawmakers will decide how resources are allocated to our schools through the state budget process. The State Joint Finance Committee is currently holding public listening sessions on the budget. They need to hear from all of us what our kids need and deserve. We must work together to ensure our public schools– where so much of our kids’ childhoods happen– are deeply nourished for the good of us all.  

Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, speaks at a rally on Friday, March 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C, protesting the U.S. Education Department’s mass layoffs and President Donald Trump’s plans to dismantle the agency. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Dozens gathered Friday outside the U.S. Department of Education to protest the ousting of more than 1,300 employees and President Donald Trump’s plans to dismantle the agency.

As the fate of the 45-year-old department hangs in the balance following the cuts this week, demonstrators held signs at a rally outside of the Education Department headquarters with slogans including “Educate Don’t Eliminate” and “WWE: We Want Education,” a reference to Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment background.

“These cuts — this isn’t just about a department and a building — this is about federal streams of money that help students live (up to) their full potential,” said Kim Anderson, executive director of the National Education Association, the country’s largest labor union.

“This agenda is about cutting funding and shipping it to private schools, it is about vouchers, make no mistake about it,” Anderson said. “It is about dismantling public education so that children cannot get what they deserve.”

Trump has repeatedly pledged to shutter the agency, and McMahon confirmed this week that the sweeping cuts marked the first step in that process.

The president alone does not have the authority to close the department, and such an effort would need congressional approval.

‘Fight back’

Following a “honk-a-thon” on Independence Avenue, Sen. Mazie Hirono told the crowd that Trump and billionaire White House adviser Elon Musk “think that they can take a chain saw to government agencies, and they’ve been slashing and burning and firing thousands of people for no cause, and just recently, of course, they got to the Department of Education.”

Trump and Musk have taken significant steps to reduce federal government spending and go after what they see as waste, with the Education Department marking a major target of those efforts.

“But we are all here to fight back because this is no time to be sitting back thinking that other people are going to fight the battles for us,” the Hawaii Democrat said. “No, we are in it together.”

The rally came as department leaders announced this week that they would be cutting a substantial number of the agency’s staff, prompting concerns over how the department could carry out its responsibilities when roughly halving its workforce.

The layoffs make huge cuts to the Office for Civil Rights, Office of Federal Student Aid and Institute of Education Sciences, among other units, according to the nonprofit Education Reform Now, which advocates for more resources for education.

Fulfilling responsibilities

Some of the department’s many responsibilities include administering federal student aid, enforcing civil rights cases, providing Title I funding for low-income school districts and guaranteeing a free public education for children with disabilities via the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.

Through a spokesperson, the department said Thursday its core responsibilities would not be impacted by the cuts.

But protesters Friday worried about the path to dismantling the department.

Molly Cronin, a special education teacher in Virginia, told States Newsroom that “if IDEA is not protected, if Title I is not protected, if Head Start is not funded, our most vulnerable children are going to be failed by the system, and we have a duty as educators to protect all students.”

Cronin, a member of the National Education Association who serves on the board of her local union, said one of the biggest misunderstandings about the agency “is that people think that the federal department is in control of the states and states’ curriculum and programs and all of that, when, in fact, that’s not true.”

Trump has vowed to shut down the department in his quest to move education “back to the states,” despite much of the funding and oversight of schools already occurring at the state and local levels. Legally, the federal government cannot control the curriculum of schools.

Legal challenges to the sweeping cuts are already taking shape, after 21 Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration Thursday over the efforts.

Prior to the mass layoffs, the department already witnessed dramatic downsizing in the weeks since Trump took office, with major contract cuts and staff buyouts.

Cuts make mission harder

Antoinette Flores, who worked for the Education Department during the Biden administration, said she knows many of the people harmed by the layoffs. 

“These are colleagues, these are friends, these are dedicated public servants that help students, and it’s devastating to see what’s happening.”

Flores, who focuses on higher education, told States Newsroom the massive cuts are “going to make it much more challenging for students to receive grants and loans that they’re entitled to.”

Rather than go after inefficiencies in the federal government, as Trump and Musk have said is their goal, Flores said a smaller federal workforce would actually “increase fraud, waste and abuse.”