‘Stakes Could Not Be Higher’: Suzanne Bonamici Claims DoE Dismantling Is ‘Failing’ Students

yesterday

During a House Education Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) slammed the executive order dismantling of the Department of Education.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you very much to all our witnesses, and I will now recognize Ranking Member Bonamici

00:05for a closing statement.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman, but thank you especially to the witnesses for traveling here for your

00:11testimony and bringing your expertise on this excellent panel.

00:15As we conclude, one thing is abundantly clear.

00:18Artificial intelligence will play a significant role in shaping the future of education, and

00:22we should be breaking down rather than creating barriers for the students and the educators

00:27who are navigating this transformation.

00:29AI in education presents tremendous opportunities but also serious challenges, as we heard.

00:36If implemented responsibly, it has the potential to enhance learning, provide personalized

00:42instruction, equip students with the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly digital

00:47world.

00:48But without guardrails, we will see decreasing access to opportunity, a deepening of inequities

00:53we're trying to overcome, and risk-serious privacy and security breaches.

00:58The Department of Education has been instrumental in closing opportunity gaps, providing students

01:03in low-income and rural communities and students with disabilities with access to the resources

01:08they need, stripping away these protections, whether they be through the dismantling of

01:13the Department of Education's Office of Educational Technologies or cuts to Title I or IDEA or

01:21the weakening of the Office of Civil Rights.

01:23These would all be a grave mistake.

01:25The federal government would be leaving schools to navigate these challenges, exacerbating

01:30disparities and failing the very students who rely most on federal support, as we've

01:34heard, particularly low-income students and students with disabilities.

01:38We've seen this play out before, when the digital divide threatened to leave millions

01:42of students behind in the early days of the internet.

01:44It was federal leadership that helped bridge the gap.

01:47We cannot repeat history by allowing AI to widen existing inequities.

01:52Instead, we must guarantee that no matter their zip code has access to the tools and

01:57knowledge they need to succeed in the classrooms and careers of tomorrow.

02:01And I know this is the K-12 subcommittee, but as also a member of the Higher Education

02:05Committee, we talked about workforce.

02:07But one of the things I do want to mention, and I think our witnesses made a great case

02:10for it today, when we have a head of an English department and someone who was talking a lot

02:14about ethics with Dr. Durbin and Dr. Raphael Bair, tech executives I've heard recently

02:21say, we don't need just computer science majors and people who code, we need people

02:25who are philosophers and ethicists as well as we navigate these serious challenges.

02:30So the stakes could not be higher.

02:32We cannot afford to get this wrong.

02:34I urge my colleagues to stand with us and defend public education, protect vital resources,

02:39and provide every student with a fair shot at success.

02:42And I look forward to the continued conversation.

02:44Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.

‘Stakes Could Not Be Higher’: Suzanne Bonamici Claims DoE Dismantling Is ‘Failing’ Students

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