Horne says he'll 'throw a party' if Trump can dismantle the U.S. Department of Education

Public education leaders in Arizona are both supporting and condemning President Donald Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education.

Arizona’s Department of Education says nothing will change for Arizona schools if the U.S. Department of Education is terminated. Tom Horne, the superintendent of public instruction, said the average Arizonan won’t see a change in the education system.

"If he does close the Department of Education, the first thing I’ll do is throw a party," Horne said.

Horne said the order will still sustain Title I funding, Pell grants, financial support for children with disabilities and federal student loam management.

"Getting rid of federal bureaucracy, it will give us some money to help with raising teachers’ salaries, which is something we absolutely must do,” Horne said. “We're losing more teachers out of the classroom than are coming into the classroom."

Marisol Garcia is a middle school history teacher and president of the Arizona Education Association. She spoke at Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s "Fighting Oligarchy" tour on Thursday.

She said dismantling the Department of Education will affect students, including those with disabilities. She said it will also put thousands of jobs at risk, as the department has already cut its workforce by half earlier this month.

"I'm calling on everyone here to defend our public education system, because our schools are not for sale, our kids are not for sale, and our communities are not for sale," Garcia said.