Justin Ailport: Protests are about to get even bigger
MDP Interim Executive Director Justin Ailport: “Senator Daines, Senator Sheehy, Congressman Zinke, and Congressman Downing are cheering on the Trump administration like a bunch of brainless frat bros watching a keg stand.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
CONTACT
gaby@montanademocrats.org
Helena, MT— In a new column, Montana Democratic Party Interim Executive Director Justin Ailport slams President Trump and Elon Musk’s push to shut down the Department of Education and highlights the dire consequences that will be felt in Montana.
Ailport criticizes Montana’s congressional delegation’s blind support for Trump and Musk’s reckless slashes, cuts and firings and warns Republican leaders they cannot continue to hide in Washington, DC from frustrated constituents at home in Montana.
Read more below:
Lee Newspapers: Protests are about to get even bigger
March 22, 2025
Justin Ailport, Interim Executive Director of the Montana Democratic Party
Protests and rallies have become commonplace in Montana and across the country– and rightly so. These days, any given week, you’ll see news of folks protesting against the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s latest rounds of government cuts, firings, and threats to critical government programs. Mark my words, these protests and rallies are about to get even bigger and louder.
This week, the White House announced President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order calling for the shutdown of the Department of Education. This comes a few weeks after Trump and Musk’s DOGE slashed the department in half, dismissing around 1,300 federal employees. The alarms were already sounding, and now it’s code red.
Here’s what’s at stake.
Plain and simple: the impacts on low-income and vulnerable students will be grave. The Department of Education funds Title I (or schools with students from low-income areas), special education, and Pell Grants (financial assistance for low-income college students). Cutting the Department of Education will reduce access to resources for these students and create a divide in equal education opportunities across the country.
Budget cuts and the dismantling of the Department of Education will also cut funding for teacher training, recruitment, and professional development. Montana already has a serious teacher shortage problem and is struggling to keep our educators in the system thanks to low teacher salaries. Test scores in Montana are still lower than pre-pandemic levels and a handful of schools are on the brink of closure.
Do we really think cutting resources is the answer to our problems? During the 2021-2022 school year, about 21% of Montana’s public school funding came from the federal government. So how will Montana fill this funding gap in the future? And who the heck in this state will be administering federal programs? Certainly, not Montana’s Office of Public Instruction that got caught last year misspending $67 million in federal funding.
Additionally, the Department of Education administers financial aid and grant programs for students seeking higher education. Cutting the Department of Education would make college less affordable and less accessible for students unless they decide to take on additional debt. The economic impacts of this could lead to a weak, less competitive future workforce putting our country at a disadvantage on a global scale.
Parents, educators, and people across Montana know these cuts pose an existential threat to public education and the future of this country. Meanwhile, Senator Daines, Senator Sheehy, Congressman Zinke, and Congressman Downing are cheering on the Trump administration like a bunch of brainless frat bros watching a kegstand.
The protests and rallies have only just started and Montana’s congressional delegation is already feeling the heat.
Montanans will rise, unite, and fight back like never before.
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