Parents, students lead protest against proposed D.C. budget cuts in federal stopgap bill

Dozens of D.C. parents and students crowded a Senate office building Thursday to protest major potential cuts to the city’s school system after House Republicans passed a federal spending bill requiring the District to slash its budget by $1 billion.

Schoolchildren from pre-K through middle school took over the Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building’s atrium to make protest signs as activist organizers coached parents on how to talk with lawmakers about the potential cuts to D.C.’s $21 billion budget.

Officials said more than $350 million of the budget reductions would come from D.C. public and charter schools if the stopgap bill, called a continuing resolution, is signed into law. Teaching staff, school supplies and some extracurricular activities also are expected to be affected by the proposed cuts.

But some parents came to the demonstration with their own talking points ready to go.

“Is this what ’drain the swamp’ means? Cutting funds so my kid doesn’t have teachers?” said James Salt, whose 8-year-old son goes to Lee Montessori School in Brookland.

Lukas Fischer, an 11-year-old who goes to Alice Deal Middle School near Friendship Heights, was holding up a homemade sign that said “you cut my dad’s job and now you want to cut my school money.” Mother Christina Heid explained that her husband was a USAID employee who was furloughed after the Trump administration gutted the agency in its overhaul of the federal government. Thankfully, she said, he was able to find new work quickly.

President Trump said he wants to save taxpayer money. That effort is being led by billionaire Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency is conducting a sweeping audit of all federal agencies.

But District officials said the proposed $1 billion cut to the budget, which would have to be done in the middle of its fiscal year, would not help the federal budget anyway.

Federal aid to the city already has been sent and budgeted, so the city would only be spending less of the local tax revenue it generates for itself.

To school leaders who attended the protest, the proposed cuts signal another instance of conservative lawmakers enforcing their will on the overwhelmingly Democrat-run District government.

“They’re doing it for no other reason than to be vindictive on some of the things that have happened in the city that they feel like have not been supportive of their particular party,” said Jacque Patterson, the president of D.C.’s State Board of Education. “All they’re doing is harming families at the end of the day.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, indicated he won’t pass the temporary spending bill that narrowly cleared the House on Tuesday.

It sets up the possibility of Democrats taking the blame for a government shutdown. The continuing resolution needs to clear Congress and be signed by Mr. Trump before midnight Friday to keep the federal government open.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, is trying to force Democrats to pass the bill after he ordered lawmakers to return to their home states following the Tuesday vote. Any changes the Senate makes to the stopgap bill would need to be approved by the House.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said other potential cuts include $216 million from Metro transit, $75 million from the Metropolitan Police Department, $38 million from D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services and $28 million from the city’s Department of Human Services.