CTU president voices concerns over Trump’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education amid McMahon’s confirmation hearings

CHICAGO — As confirmation hearings got underway on Thursday for Linda McMahon, President Trump’s choice to run the Department of Education, the head of the Chicago Teachers Union rasied concerns about whether services for vulnerable students will be impacted, given the president’s goal of ending the department.

Federal funding makes up 16% of the Chicago Public School budget and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said she is worried about what could be in store under McMahon’s leadership.

“Trump is picking on Chicago. We have no reason to believe he will not pick on our school district as well,” Davis Gates said.

The CTU leader voiced her concerns Thursday as McMahon testified at a senate confirmation hearing where she vowed to work with Congress on several issues, including ending the department that she could soon lead.

“I’m really all for the president’s mission, which is to return education to the states. I believe, as he does, the best education is closest to the child,” McMahon said.

Davis Gates said she is worried about how the changes could impact students.

“We are very concerned about how our most vulnerable students will be in the crosshairs of everything without a safety net, without a force field, without the rule of law,” Davis Gates said.

During the hearing, McMahon vowed to “reorient” the department while continuing some of its largest programs, including Title I funding for low-income schools and Pell Grants, but suggested that the Department of Health and Human Services could manage funding for students with disabilities and the Justice Department could take over the Office for Civil Rights.

“This is not about left or right or R or D. That’s not the fight today. Education should be the ultimate bipartisan and nonpartisan issue. What’s happening today is an assault on public education,” Arne Duncan, who served as Education Secretary under President Obama, said.

Duncan called the president’s desire to dismantle the Department of Education unprecedented.

Back at home, the CTU remains in a cooling-off period in contract negotiations, until March 6.

“So we are proposing that our contract becomes a force field, a protection and a support to teach the truth, to make sure that we can hire black and brown and bilingual teachers, to make sure that our young people are able to have classes that give them the multi-dimensional history of this country,” Davis Gates said.

Meanwhile, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez’s attorneys, who were in court Thursday, said subpoenas are coming for CPS board members and the teachers union seeking emails and text messages.

It was announced Wednesday that Martinez is one of six candidates up for a school superintendent’s job in Las Vegas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.