Democrats on how the 2024 election could impact education

SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) - Democrats in mid-Michigan are warning of what they call a threat to education if former President Donald Trump is elected.

They told TV5′s James Felton they fear his policies would especially hurt children from the most vulnerable communities.

"This election is going to have an enormous impact on our schools, especially for the students of color that I interact with everyday," said Melba Denise Baldwin

Baldwin is an educator in Saginaw. She took part in an event held by supporters of the Kamala Harris Campaign for president, urging voters to choose the vice president this November, not her opponent, Republican presidential nominee Trump.

"If Kamala Harris wins, we'll be able to keep investing in teachers and counselors, making sure that every child has the resources they need. If Donald Trump gets back to the White House and has the power to enact the Project 2025 agenda, he will upend public education as we know it," she said.

Baldwin was joined by Michigan Board of Education President Pamela Pugh and Bay City Education Association President Rick Meeth.

"We already have a teacher shortage in our state. We can't afford another four years of a man who doesn't value educators and is trying to rip away our bargaining power. Teachers deserve more, not less, and we refuse to go backwards," Meeth said.

"As president, he tried to slash billions in education funding, seeking to eliminate after-school programs, teacher training, and services for more than a million students. He tried to gut the public service loan forgiveness program and freeze Pell Grants, both of which are essential to helping black students to reach higher levels of education," Pugh said.

Baldwin believes a second Trump presidency will tilt efforts to level the playing field in the wrong direction.

"We deal with a lot of children in our schools who are coming from extreme poverty, they have traumatic childhood experiences, and we need to be surrounding these students with the resources that they need in order to level that playing field," she said.

We did reach out to the Trump Campaign for a response and are still waiting to hear back.

Trump has previously said that project 2025 is not related to his campaign. In a Truth Social post back in July, Trump said he knows nothing about Project 2025, adding he had nothing to do with it despite many of those involved in Project 2025 having ties to the former president.