Friends,

I’m writing this not just as someone who works for a more democratic and just America, but as a kid who grew up in public schools, the place where I learned how to question power, and how to find and believe my voice mattered. Much of the ideals of what I know about democracy came from classrooms funded by all of us, accountable to all of us, and open to every child who walked through the door.

Today, those very foundations are under attack.

This has not happened in a vacuum; it's by design.

The Trump administration has pushed billions of dollars out of public education and into the pockets of wealthy donors and private, unaccountable institutions

The Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) is the latest and most dangerous step... a federal voucher tax shelter that would siphon $68 billion away from public schools and funnel it through “scholarship-granting organizations” with no transparency, no oversight, and the freedom to discriminate.

At the same time, the FY2027 budget proposes $7.3 billion in direct cuts to the public-school programs millions of families rely on, from arts and tech classes to mental health services, afterschool programs, and special education support. And while classrooms crumble, this administration is spending $11 billion per week on war in Iran while expanding ICE’s reach into our communities.

This isn’t just misguided policy. It’s part of an authoritarian playbook: weaken democratic institutions, eliminate public spaces, and silence collective dissent. And it’s happening right now - to our children, our teachers, and the future they are owed.

Take action by joining an emergency organizing call on May 14th to STOP THE CUTS!

Public schools are one of the last truly democratic institutions in this country, places where every child, regardless of ZIP code, family income, race, or immigration status, has a right to learn and to dream.

Corporate billionaires and political elites know this. That’s why they’re trying to dismantle public education and replace it with private systems designed to enrich the wealthy, hide accountability and divide our communities.

And across the country, people are asking: what kind of future are we building if we don’t invest in the schools that serve everyone?

That’s why Move to Amend is advocating in favor of the “Kids Over Corporations” campaign in allyship with Free Our Future, Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, and local organizations across the country. Together, we are building mass resistance to authoritarian privatization and demanding that our tax dollars serve the public good ~ not corporations and wealthy donors.

Here’s what you can do right now:

• Donate to Move to Amend so we can organize, mobilize, and expand our campaign efforts to end corporate rule. Your support fuels the movement to keep corporate money out of our democracy…including our schools.
  
  
• Email your Senators and demand they reject ECCA and fully fund public education. Tell them to make billionaires pay their fair share, to stop pouring billions into war and ICE, and to invest in our children. Take action by joining an emergency organizing call on May 14th to STOP THE CUTS!
  
  
• Join the Collective Refusal at Free the Future: freethefuture.net
  Add your name to the growing movement refusing permission for the destruction of public education.

The decisions being made in the coming weeks will shape the future of public schools for years to come.

Silence is not neutral in moments like this.

This is how public institutions are wiped out: not all at once, but piece by piece, via underfunding, privatization, and the erosion of accountability.

And yet, across the country, people are pushing back.

Communities are organizing. Educators are speaking out. Families are refusing to accept a future where public education is hollowed out and inequality deepens.

For many of us, public schools shaped who we are. Now it’s on us to protect them.

Donate. Take action. Refuse permission for corporate takeover. Let’s put kids ~ not billionaires, not corporations ~ first.

Love and solidarity,
The Move to Amend National Team

P.S. The future of public education and the role it plays in a democratic society is being shaped right now.

What happens next will depend, in part, on whether folks are paying attention.