WATCH: Nebraska Lawmakers, Leaders Unite to Defend Students and Educators from Harmful Project 2025 Plans

Omaha, NE —Yesterday, advocates came together for a press conference in Omaha to highlight how Project 2025’s plans to cut funding and programs will hurt Nebraska’s schools, children, and education system. 

Here is what Project 2025 would mean for Nebraska families:

  • 5,440 low-income children in Nebraska would be affected by the elimination of Head Start programs.
  • Over 922 teaching positions could be cut if Title I is eliminated, hurting an estimated 12,726 students. 
  • Project 2025 would end the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows all students who attend schools serving a student body wherein at least 25 percent of students are eligible for free- or reduced-price school meals.
  • Eliminating Head Start would wipe out a critical supply of child care in rural and other underserved communities that already face a lack of child care slots. 
  • Project 2025 would censor academic learning and make book banning in schools a federal priority. 
  • Project 2025 would ban LGBTQI+-affirming school policies, which lead to better outcomes at school for all students.
  • Project 2025 proposes phasing out existing income-driven repayment (IDR) plans for student loan borrowers, such as the Biden-Harris administration’s new Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan.

Here’s what yesterday’s speakers had to say:

Nebraska State Senator Wendy DeBoer said: The public schools in and of themselves make sure every child in our state is educated. That’s such an important thing for the lives of children. By providing education to every child in the state of Nebraska, we make our state safer… If we ignore the public good of giving everyone an education, we find that kids are left behind.”

Nebraska State Education Association President Tim Royers said: “We have very real and serious issues affecting public education. Project 2025 wouldn’t only prevent us from moving forward. It would take us at least 20 steps back. It’s important to highlight that many of these ideas are not coming out of thin air. There are examples of these provisions in action in other states. We must be assertive in pushing back.”

Former Nebraska Educator Laura Fisher said: “A lot of the things in Project 2025 happened in Kansas and the Wichita area. It took place while I was living there… We lost planning time… class sizes got too large. I transitioned to a different career. You wouldn’t believe how many teachers messaged me asking how they too could get out of teaching during this time.”

Nebraska Retired Educator Tamara Bailey said: “When it comes down to the Department of Education being eliminated, it’s a sign to me that we’re not interested in young people being educated. If young people have problems now staying in school, there would be even more serious consequences if we were to move toward elimination… You think the teacher shortage is bad now? Eliminating the Department of Education would be a complete disaster.”

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