Students, parents and educators gather for Sacramento protests against Trump education plans
Students, parents, educators and non-profit groups advocating to save education funding organized across the city Tuesday to protest as President Donald Trump prepared to address a joint session of Congress later in the evening.
Leslie Ferreira, a resident of San Joaquin County who attended an afternoon protest in Crocker Park said recent cutbacks on education have been concerning. She believes within education is diversity, which she called the United States’ greatest asset.
“Classrooms is where that starts,” Ferreira said. “For teachers to now have to censor what makes their classrooms safe places for their young people is sickening, and that’s a big reason I’m out here today.”
In the first protest of the day, the California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance organized a rally that started at Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Sacramento and marched to gather for a rally outside the California Capitol building. The alliance is a statewide group advocating on behalf of publicly funded afterschool and summer programs.
Following the first six weeks of his second term in office, Trump is scheduled to address Congress Tuesday night from Capitol Hill, a speech that is not officially his State of the Union address but will be an opportunity to present his case to federal lawmakers and the American public that his policies are working.
On Monday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Trump’s nominee Linda McMahon, a billionaire and former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, as the secretary of Education. Trump has said he wants to abolish the Department of Education. Last month, McMahon told senators Trump’s plan to dismantle the Education Department would need congressional approval first.
Organizers of the Tuesday morning demonstration said they were protesting Trump’s plan to defund the U.S. Department of Education and eliminate federal afterschool funding for middle and high school students, according to a news release from the alliance.
The marching band from Sacramento’s Hiram Johnson High School led the morning march to the state Capitol, which was expected to include live performances from students from Twin Rivers Unified School District Creative Connections Academy and Oakland’s Elmhurst United.
Alliance organizers said the demonstrators will also call on the California Legislature to uphold state’s leadership in expanded learning by supporting the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal, which increases the state’s $4 billion annual investment in the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program.
The day’s second protest in Sacramento to save education funding was organized by CFT, a labor union representing 120,000 teachers, faculty and school employees in public and private schools and colleges from early childhood through higher education. This protest was expected to begin at 2 p.m. Tuesday with a march from Southside Park to a rally at the California Capitol.
Organizers of the afternoon protest were calling for what they say are long overdue changes to make California’s higher education system more accessible, according to a CFT news release.
Specifically, the school employees are asking state lawmakers to preserve education funding and prioritize student support services, uphold respect and dignity in higher education, ensure fair compensation and equitable working conditions for all school employees and livable wages and secure employment.
The afternoon march and rally in downtown Sacramento were part of the Protect Our Kids Nationwide Day of Action organized by AFT, which said its members are standing up to the Trump administration’s plan “to make painful cuts to education and healthcare in order to slash taxes for billionaires.”
Members of the grassroots organization 50501 Movement gathered at noon Tuesday at Crocker Park on O Street in downtown Sacramento for a “March 4 Democracy” to the Capitol, according to an online flyer. The grassroots group led large demonstrations on Presidents Day last month throughout the country, including Sacramento, under the banner “Not My Presidents Day.”
Nancy Culpepper, an organizer with 50501 Sacramento, said the demonstration is to help Sacramento County residents “push back” on Trump’s recent policies, including the possible dismantling of the Department of Education.
“A lot of America’s people not only feel like they’re unseen, unheard and unrepresented, but like we’re being targeted in a million different ways, from a million different angles, all at once,” Culpepper said. “We did this by each having the same idea that we can’t stand and just watch things happen.”
Among the protesters was Nicole Ftanick, who wore a Lady Liberty costume that adorned emerald robes and a sign that read, “Out of Order.”
“All of the things that the Statue of Liberty stands for are being removed,” Ftanick said.
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 11:25 AM.
