It was a modest rally over some big ideas.
Randall Wolf said the gathering Tuesday on the steps of the Augusta County Courthouse in Staunton was to show support for public education at a time when the entire institution in America is under attack. Many of those attacks, he said, are outlined in Project 2025, a 922-page policy blueprint designed by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in the case Donald Trump returns to the White House next year.
“It’s not one issue, it’s seven to eight issues,’’ Wolf told the News Virginian.
Wolf, an Augusta County resident, former journalist and two-time Democratic candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates, said he opposes the use of taxpayer money to fund school vouchers and charter schools, both popular in conservative circles. He said he is also opposed to the whitewashing of American history in classrooms, another charge that’s been lobbed against the right in recent years.
Wolf — indeed many leading Democrats in the U.S., including presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris — believes that these are among the goals of Project 2025.
The Heritage-back plan calls for the total dismemberment of the Department of Education. The department’s functions would be shifted to other federal agencies, including the departments of labor, commerce and justice.
Project 2025 also calls for eliminating Head Start, the federally funded program that supports early education and other services for low-income Americans, and "woke propaganda" in classrooms — in addition to expanding the president’s powers, instituting sweeping tax cuts and banning pornography.
“Doing away with the Department of Education would undermine our schools,’’ Wolf said.
Wolf isn’t the only one who agrees. Project 2025 has become so unpopular that even Trump has disavowed the document, after claiming to know nothing about it.
“President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way,” Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement.
Since Project 2025 started facing backlash, its director, Paul Dans, former chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration, has stepped down.
Samantha Hughes, a mother of three students who attend Augusta County Public Schools and a product of the same school division herself, was also at Tuesday’s rally.
Hughes, who graduated from Buffalo Gap High School, told the News Virginian the public school system gave “me a great foundation.” She fondly remembers Buffalo Gap government teacher Tom Long. “He made us go to government meetings," said Hughes, who also took part in the school district’s Model General Assembly. Hughes went on to major in political science at Mary Baldwin University and remains civically active.
Former Augusta County Schools teacher Cheri LaPorte said her participation Tuesday was straightforward: “Strong schools make for strong democracies,’’ she told the News Virginian. “We need to support our public schools.”
Wolf plans other rallies prior to the November elections. He said a September rally just after Labor Day would focus on workers’ rights. An October rally would emphasize saving the American democracy.
He said the ultimate goal of Tuesday’s rally beyond boosting public education was to “raise awareness.” “I want to raise awareness about diverse ideas and perspectives,’’ Wolf said.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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