SEAFORD, Del. -- On Wednesday, members of the Delaware State and Seaford Education Associations, along with members of the Seaford Custodian Association gathered in front of Seaford Middle School in support of public education and to protest against efforts to defund education at the State and Federal levels.
Delaware State Education Association President Stephanie Ingram says her group is fighting President Trump's order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. She and others worry the order could slash millions of dollars in funding for Title One or low income schools districts such as Seaford.
"Funding cuts hurt all students," says Ingram. "So, changing the way we receive our funding or who disperses the funding has the potential to hurt every student and every school across not only our state but across the nation."
Justin Rust, vice president of the Seaford Custodian Association, says the groups' movement is not political. But, he says the issue stretched beyond the federal government.
"It was Senator [Bryant] Richardson who sent an email to the Department of Justice calling for the defunding from the state of Delaware for $500 million," Rust says. "This is about the kids that money is directly going to impact."
WBOC reached out to Delaware State Senator Bryant Richardson on Wednesday. In a statement, he said:
"I do not want to stop federal funding. I want to make people in Delaware aware that the funding is at risk if Delaware does not comply with the executive order from President Trump. The purpose of the Complaint is to force our state to obey the law so that we do not lose the tens of millions of dollars of federal funding sent to Delaware. Our governor and his cabinet need to take a hard look at why they are insisting on defending the invasion of men into women’s sports and looker rooms against the will of the majority of Delaware citizens."
"I ask parents to consider if they would be okay with their daughters in a locker room where a biological male is undressing," Richardson continues. "Women and girls deserve to know someone is fighting to protect the integrity and fairness of their competitive sports and standing up for their right to safe and protected spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms."
Activists, however, say that is not the answer.
"Defunding of any school for any sort of political reason," says Rust. "Resources for students shouldn't be a battleground."
"When you're doing that, you're trying to target a subset of students, and you're hurting all students," adds Ingram.
WBOC also reached out the Caesar Rodney Institute about the matter. In a statement, the Director of the Center for Education Policy Dr. Tanya Hettler said:
"President Trump specifically indicated last week that he will not be ending Title One funding, so the teachers' union rally taking place at Seaford Middle School seems like a scare tactic to make people think that low income students will not continue to receive benefits."
"Much of the work done at the Education Department will likely be shifting to other branches of the government," Hettler continues. "Streamlining the work of the Education Department would save considerable money and reduce the influence of the federal government on Delaware schools."