Public Advocates

March 20, 2025—EdSource Higher Education reporter Amy DiPierro and Staff Writer John Fensterwald speak to Public Advocates’ President and CEO Guillermo Mayer on President Trump’s executive order that directs U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to work toward eliminating the Department of Education.

Guillermo Mayer, President and CEO of the nonprofit Public Advocates, attributed the executive order to the Administration’s larger aim.

“Nobody should be fooled,” he said. “While this order purports to reduce federal bureaucracy, it’s part of a longer-term plan to eliminate federal oversight in education and give states free rein to redirect billions of dollars away from public schools and towards private school vouchers. The ultimate goal is to erode the public’s trust in our system of public education.” 

The post EdSource: Trump signs executive order to dismantle Department of Education appeared first on Public Advocates.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2025
Media Contact: Sumeet Bal, Director of Communications, sbal@publicadvocates.org, 917.647.1952

Today, in a largely political stunt of questionable consequence, President Trump has issued an executive order directing his Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to dismantle the Department of Education “to the maximum extent…permitted by law.”

This action is not about improving education; it’s a calculated political move that seeks to undermine the notion of any appropriate federal role in public education. The president and his cabinet secretary cannot dismantle the Department or its major funding programs without congressional approval. This posturing requires an act of Congress despite appearances otherwise; last week’s likely illegal elimination of half of the Department’s workforce is potentially more consequentially devastating.

“Nobody should be fooled,” said Guillermo Mayer, President and CEO of Public Advocates. “While this order purports to reduce federal bureaucracy, it’s part of a longer term plan to eliminate federal oversight in education and give states free rein to redirect billions of dollars away from public schools and towards private school vouchers. The ultimate goal is to erode the public’s trust in our system of public education.”

The president’s actions on education have been both ahistorical and contradictory. Education has historically been primarily state and locally controlled and federal law prohibits otherwise. “Ironically, while claiming to reduce federal bureaucracy and overreach, the order doubles down on attempting to impose unprecedented federal control over classroom content by threatening to withhold crucial funding from schools that discuss unconscious bias, diversity and equity,” said John Affeldt, Managing Attorney and Director of Education Equity at Public Advocates.

“The work to improve our public schools is a critical collective endeavor for our nation, and the federal government has been a valuable partner. The research is unequivocal: federal education funding has directly contributed to narrowing achievement gaps that widened during the pandemic; with each additional federal dollar showing measurable improvements in student outcomes. These funds disproportionately support our highest need districts—the very places that are still recovering from economic hardships and the pandemic. Federal education dollars are an important tool for ensuring educational opportunity isn’t determined by zip code,” Affeldt added.

The Department of Education exists to help states support schools in serving all students, and specifically protecting students with disabilities, students of color and poor students who historically were denied equal opportunities to learn, and to protect civil rights in education. If this administration and Congress closed the Department of Education it would disproportionately harm millions—in K12 and higher education—of impoverished students and students with disabilities across rural and urban America, in red states and blue states alike. It would put billions of dollars in jeopardy that serve low-income students and students with disabilities. These funds provide staffing in high needs schools and for students with disabilities, early childhood and pre-K programs, support for after school programs, and closing the achievement gaps. By crippling civil rights enforcement, the EO and its staff reductions hope to undermine protections for students from discrimination and eliminate crucial national data collection that ensures accountability across states.

In this moment of uncertainty, we stand in solidarity with educators, families, students, and advocates across the country who believe in the promise of public education. Together, we will defend our public schools, protect educational equity, and fight for the right of every student to learn in an environment that acknowledges our full history and prepares them for a diverse and democratic society.

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Public Advocates Inc. is a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing, transportation equity and climate justice.

The post Public Advocates’ Statement on Trump Plan to Eliminate the Department of Education appeared first on Public Advocates.

March 12, 2025—Los Angeles Times’ education reporters Howard Blume, Jaweed Kaleem and Jenny Gold spoke with Public Advocates’ President & CEO Guillermo Mayer on the Trump administration slashing the Department of Education’s workforce in half as part of their on-going effort to dismantle the department and public education in the country.

“These reckless layoffs will sow chaos and confusion throughout our nation’s public school system,” said Guillermo Mayer, president and chief executive of Public Advocates, a California-based law firm and advocacy group. “Instead of bolstering learning outcomes, the immediate effect of these actions is quite cruel. It forces millions of parents, especially parents of students with disabilities, to worry about whether their children will receive the services they need.”

“It strikes fear in the hearts of tens of thousands of low-income students who are now wondering, ‘What will happen to my financial aid? Will I be able to afford college?’” Mayer said.

Read the full story.

The post Los Angeles Times: Trump guts the Education Department with massive layoffs; shock waves reach California appeared first on Public Advocates.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2025
Media Contact: Sumeet Bal, Director of Communications, sbal@publicadvocates.org, 917.647.1952

Today our nation faces a deeply troubling development. The Trump Administration fired nearly half of the workforce serving the Department of Education. This action will not only upend the lives of thousands of civil servants, but disproportionately harm millions—in K12 and higher education—of impoverished students and students with disabilities across rural and urban America, in red states and blue states alike. The department exists to support schools in serving all students, and specifically protecting students with disabilities, students of color and poor students who historically were denied equal opportunities to learn and to protect civil rights in education.

We condemn this likely unlawful action in the strongest possible terms. It represents a dangerous assault not only on students and families but is effectively dismantling the department by hamstringing its efficacy through forced layoffs, including the dismantling of regional civil rights offices. 

“This dangerous action attempts to do by administrative fiat what the President lacks the votes to achieve in Congress. It also shows the administration cares more about dismantling government and eliminating civil rights protections than it does about serving the American people, including the very constituents President Trump claims as his base,” said John Affeldt, Managing Attorney and Director of Education Equity at Public Advocates. “Most of the beneficiaries of federal funding for low-income students and students with disabilities are white Americans, a great many of them in red states.” 

This action is not about improving education. It jeopardizes billions in funding for low-income students, students with disabilities, and families nationwide. The lack of staffing hopes to roll back decades of progress, cripple civil rights enforcement protecting students from discrimination, reduce services for students and families, throw $93 billion in federal student loans into uncertainty, and weaken crucial national data collection and research that ensures accountability across states and transcends political divisions. 

“These reckless layoffs will sow chaos and confusion throughout our nation’s public school system,” said Guillermo Mayer, President & CEO of Public Advocates. “Instead of bolstering learning outcomes, the immediate effect of these actions is quite cruel. It forces millions of parents, especially parents of students with disabilities, to worry about whether their children will receive the services they need. It strikes fear in the hearts of tens of thousands of low-income students who are now wondering, ‘What will happen to my financial aid? Will I be able to afford college?’” 

As an organization committed to justice and equity, we will not remain silent. In this moment of uncertainty, we stand in solidarity with educators, families, students, and advocates across the country who believe in the promise of public education, as well as the thousands of public servants who were unceremoniously locked out of their offices today. Together, we will defend our public schools, protect educational equity, and fight for the right of every student to learn in an environment that acknowledges our full history and prepares them for a diverse and democratic society.

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Public Advocates Inc. is a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing, transportation equity and climate justice.

The post Statement from Public Advocates on Trump Administration Gutting Department of Education appeared first on Public Advocates.

March 10, 2025—Public Advocates is named as a renter advocacy group and one of three sponsors of a bill to “require a court to dismiss a nonpayment eviction if at any point before tenants are actually removed from their home, they can pay all the rent accrued up to that date” in CalMatters reporter Felicia Mello’s story.

The legislation would catch California up to 21 other states that ban nonpayment evictions for tenants willing and able to pay up owed rent before they are evicted.

Read the full story.

The post CalMatters: They tried to pay their overdue rent. Their landlord wouldn’t accept it appeared first on Public Advocates.

March 1, 2025—Public Advocates’ Senior Staff Attorney Suzanne Dershowitz is named as an interviewee in the report “Rooted in Marin: Strategies for Anti-Displacement.” The report highlights Salinas’ rent stabilization and just cause for eviction ordinances, and says: “Public Advocates, a legal advocacy organization also played a key role in shaping the ordinance(s) to emphasize community priorities.”

Access the report via the Rooted in Marin website.

The post Rooted in Marin: Strategies for Anti-Displacement appeared first on Public Advocates.