Students Deserve Better: Why Library Cuts Are a Moral Failure

In a stunning act of political short-sightedness, the Trump administration has issued an executive order to dismantle key parts of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)—the only federal agency solely dedicated to funding libraries across the United States. While the administration couches this move as a measure to “streamline government,” what it really represents is a direct assault on equity, access to education, and community well-being—especially for our most underserved populations.

At a time when millions of students across the country already lack access to full-time school librarians, and when libraries often serve as the only source of reliable internet, homework help, and summer learning programs, gutting IMLS is not only cruel—it’s dangerous.

Libraries Are the People’s Classroom

For decades, libraries have quietly filled the gaps left by systemic underfunding of public education. They are not just rooms full of books—they are centers of opportunity. In rural communities, they offer critical access to digital resources that students can’t find anywhere else. In cities, they serve as sanctuaries of learning, job training, and safe gathering. In underserved school districts, the interlibrary loan system supported by state libraries gives children access to the books and materials their own schools cannot afford.

Cutting off funding to IMLS—an agency that represents just 0.003% of the federal budget—will harm children who depend on libraries for everything from literacy programs to free summer meals. It will hurt teachers and educators who rely on well-stocked, well-networked libraries to support their students. And it will especially devastate rural and low-income communities, where local resources are already stretched to the limit.

A Penny Saved, a Future Lost

Let’s put the math in perspective. The IMLS budget in 2024 was $266.7 million. That’s 75 cents per person in the U.S. Just one F-35 fighter jet—part of a program Congress continues to fund at $90+ million per plane—could pay for the entire IMLS budget three times over.

So while Congress and the administration pour hundreds of billions into Pentagon contracts, they’re telling our kids, educators, and librarians that their futures aren’t worth even a single dollar. It’s yet another example of a budget that reflects misplaced priorities—where endless military expansion is sacred, but community education is expendable.

Library Cuts Are A Political Target in a Culture War

Let’s be honest: this isn’t just about money. Libraries have become collateral damage in the escalating war against diversity, equity, and inclusion. Critics of DEI programs have painted libraries as dangerous simply because they offer access to books that reflect the breadth of human experience—across race, gender, sexuality, and class. That fear has translated into coordinated political attacks, book bans, and now, efforts to defund the institutions that ensure access to knowledge itself.

By attempting to cripple IMLS, the administration is sending a message: we don’t want public spaces that empower people to think, question, or learn freely. That’s not fiscal conservatism. That’s authoritarianism dressed up in bureaucratic language.

The Real Cost of Losing Libraries

What do we lose if we allow this to happen? We lose programs like the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian initiative, which has helped districts like Philadelphia begin restoring library services in underserved schools. We lose access to databases and digital learning tools in states like Maine, where 61% of IMLS funding goes toward state-run resources that serve the whole population. We lose an entire ecosystem of knowledge-sharing, community-building, and equity that’s taken decades to build.

And for what? A manufactured culture war win? A symbolic gesture of government “efficiency” that saves fractions of pennies on the dollar while students are left behind?

We Must Act

Defunding libraries is not a neutral act—it is a deliberate attack on our collective future. If we believe that every child deserves access to books, to broadband, to education, and to opportunity, then we must treat libraries as the essential public infrastructure that they are.

We call on Congress to:

• Fully fund IMLS through statutory protections.
• Reject any executive orders that dismantle its programs.
• Recognize libraries not as luxuries, but as necessities.

And we call on communities to raise their voices—to remind our elected officials that 75 cents per person is not too much to spend on a functioning democracy.

In an era where truth is under attack and inequality is growing, libraries are more important than ever. It’s time to defend them with everything we’ve got.