Jonathan D. Salant photo
Miller: “Public schools are not only the hearts of our communities, they are the foundation of our democracies."
WASHINGTON — Meet Julia Miller.
She’s a resident of New Haven, a civics teacher at Metropolitan Business Academy in New Haven, and Connecticut’s 2025 teacher of the year.
On Tuesday, she’s also a symbol of opposition to President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash federal education funding and abolish the U.S. Department of Education. She is a guest of U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro at Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.
“I’m a civics teacher and I really encourage my students to be active and involved and advocate for the things they want to see and kind of make a difference,” Miller said in an interview Tuesday. “I don’t want to just teach that, I want to live that. And so I’m really honored to have the opportunity to advocate on something that I’m incredibly passionate about. My biggest passion is our public schools.”
Musk has led efforts to cut around $1 billion from the Education Department so far, and House Republicans last year sought to reduce the agency’s budget by $11 billion. The department has justified canceling contracts in part by dismissing them as “wasteful and ideologically driven spending not in the interest of students and taxpayers.”
Much of the Education Department’s federal money goes to help poorer school districts, including New Haven’s, and to help serve students with disabilities.
“Public schools are not only the hearts of our communities, they are the foundation of our democracies,” Miller said separately during a Zoom press conference with DeLauro. She said schools teach students how to “live and learn in a diverse world, find their voices and their passions and find opportunities.”
During the press conference, DeLauro called education the “great equalizer,” offering a path to success for poorer students and saying teachers are next to parents in terms of the impact they have on children.
“I’m deeply alarmed by the attacks against our public schools and our education system,” said DeLauro, who as the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee is helping to lead the pushback against the proposed education cuts by Trump and Elon Musk.
DeLauro said the proposed cuts would eliminate thousands of teaching positions, work-study programs, financial aid, and other programs, many of which are designed to help poorer students get the education they need to get good jobs.
“Education is the great equalizer. Education is the pathway to the American dream,” DeLauro said. “That pathway is now at risk. Our schools are under assault.”
She said Trump’s efforts to cut education funding and eliminate the agency altogether are illegal since it is Congress, not the president, that decides how much money to spend and what to spend it on.
“The president does not have the inherent authority to take over the power of the purse,” DeLauro said. “It seems like teachers are an easy scapegoat. …I don’t know why one would demonize education. That’s a question you have to ask some of my colleagues. It’s a noble profession, always has been.”