How Project 2025 Would Devastate Public Education | NEA

Project 2025: Threats to Education and Sustainable Development Goals

Stripping Support for the Most Vulnerable Students

1. Project 2025 aims to dismantle the Department of Education and reduce the federal role in education to that of a statistics-gathering agency.
2. This plan would eliminate Title I funding, which provides critical financial help to high-poverty schools and districts.
3. Instead, states would receive block grants with zero regulations or oversight, further straining education budgets and undermining the academic outcomes of vulnerable students.

“Parent Rights” and Censorship as Federal Law

1. Project 2025 seeks to accelerate censorship in schools and strip educator autonomy in curriculum decisions.
2. It aims to make book banning and censorship a federal priority, limiting the freedom to read, learn, and teach.

Codifying Discrimination Against LGBTQ+ Students

1. Project 2025 promotes discrimination against LGBTQ+ people on a national scale, denying their existence and undermining their rights.
2. It seeks to rescind federal civil rights protections, including those in public schools, and impose a greater climate of censorship and self-censorship.

Private School Vouchers in Every State

1. Project 2025 calls for a federal voucher law, modeling it after Arizona’s unaccountable voucher program.
2. These vouchers divert funding from public schools, benefitting predominantly private school families and destabilizing state budgets.
3. It also aims to weaken regulations against charter schools, which further take away funding from traditional public schools.

Attacking Educator Voice

1. Project 2025 targets the National Education Association (NEA) and seeks to revoke its congressional charter.
2. It threatens educators’ ability to come together and work in union to advocate for their students and their profession.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 5: Gender Equality
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 4.1: By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education.
• SDG 4.5: By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and children in vulnerable situations.
• SDG 4.7: By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.
• SDG 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
• SDG 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status.
• SDG 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory, and representative decision-making at all levels.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Indicator 4.1.1: Proportion of children and young people (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex.
• Indicator 4.5.1: Parity indices (female/male, rural/urban, bottom/top wealth quintile, and others such as disability status, indigenous peoples, and conflict-affected, as data become available) for all education indicators on this list that can be disaggregated.
• Indicator 4.7.1: Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment.
• Indicator 5.1.1: Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce, and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex.
• Indicator 10.2.1: Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income, by sex, age, and persons with disabilities.
• Indicator 16.7.1: Proportions of positions (by sex, age, persons with disabilities, and population groups) in public institutions (national and local legislatures, public service, and judiciary) compared to national distributions.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: nea.org