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Residents across the Peninsula joined demonstrators nationwide on Saturday, April 5, 2025, for the Hands Off! Day of Action, protesting federal program cuts by the Trump administration.
“This is a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history,” Hands Off! organizers said.
Protesters rallied to demand an end to the Trump administration’s cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency. As of April 1, the cuts have resulted in at least 56,000 federal workers losing their jobs, with plans to eliminate another 171,000 positions. These cuts affect public services such as healthcare, education, and social welfare programs.
Organizers reported over 1,300 Hands Off! protests across the United States, with demonstrators advocating for three primary demands: ending corruption within the Trump administration, preserving federal funding for Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs, and protecting immigrant and transgender communities.
Elected officials gather in response to cuts to federal education programs
While Hands Off! protests in Redwood City addressed broad federal cutbacks, another event specifically targeted impacts to local education.
State Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, hosted a “Stand Up and Speak Out for Schools” event Saturday morning at the San Mateo County Government Center in Redwood City.
Although not associated with the Hands Off movement, when the event ended, attendees were encouraged to attend a nearby Hands Off protest.
Education officials from all over San Mateo and Santa Clara counties attended the event. Las Lomitas Elementary School District board president Paige Winikoff, Mountain View Whisman School District board member Lisa Henry, San Mateo Community College District board member Lisa Petrides, Santa Clara County Board of Education member Jessica Speiser, were some of the attendees.
San Mateo County Supervisor Lisa Gauthier, U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, state Assemblymembers Diane Papan and Marc Berman all spoke at the event.
“Our kids can’t be collateral damage in the culture war,” Becker said in an interview before the event. “We need stability in our schools, we need stability for teachers. We’re already feeling the effects.”
On Friday, the Supreme Court allowed the Department of Education to cancel more than $148 million in grants for recruiting and training new teachers in California.
“It makes no sense,” Menlo Park City School District board member and Palo Alto teacher Josh Spira said about the canceling of the grant. “How are we going to recruit, train and support the next generation of teachers that our children deserve, that our local economy depends on if we’re cutting funding.”
Becker said that federal programs such as Head Start, which provides children with free medical services and gives parents job training, school meals and student loans are some of the major programs that are at risk. California currently requires all schools to offer free lunch and breakfast to students. The federal government reimburses schools for breakfast and lunch to some students. California provides reimbursements to cover meals for all students.
Becker emphasized that California is prioritizing education. Since he joined the state Senate, he said California has increased spending on education by $35 billion a year. “When I came there, we did not have [free] school meals. We didn’t have universal [transitional kindergarten],” he said.
Local and state governments largely handle education. Trump and other Republicans argue that by cutting the Department of Education, local governments will have more resources and less bureaucracy.
Becker has his doubts. “We just don’t know. I don’t think radical and reckless cuts and chaos and confusion are the way to do it. I’m open to anything, but I haven’t seen a plan yet that says they are going to return money to the state,” he said.
Trump says his cuts to the Department of Education, part of his broader Department of Government Efficiency initiative, are intended to reduce the federal budget deficit.
Becker doesn’t buy it.
“It’s a charade to say this is about debt,” he said. “We had budget surpluses in the 90s. The Trump tax cuts for billionaires have cost us trillions of dollars. All nondefense discretionary spending is 3.1% of GDP. All this is a rounding error compared to, say, the defense budget.”
“We’re not going to let this misinformation go,” Becker said.
Not all attendees support Becker. Members of the group Our Duty, which advocates against sex-change operations for minors and transgender participation in women’s sports, also attended. They cited Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent statement on his podcast that transgender participation in sports is “deeply unfair.”
When confronted by Our Duty activists, Berman firmly defended transgender students’ participation in sports. “You’re bullying a small group of kids when there is a bully in the White House,” he said as he walked away.
When asked about Newsom’s comments, Becker said: “I’ll just say this is an emotional issue. We had people here on both sides of it. I have not yet had the chance to listen to the governor’s remarks in full so I’m not going to comment. I do appreciate that he’s reaching out to the other side.” He declined to state his view.
Guest Opinion: Has the Sequoia Union High School District Board of Trustees lost its way?February 1, 2026 1:50 pm
Thanks for the article. Sounds like State Senator Josh Becker may have been taught math by one of the California teachers that he helped usher in that isn’t required to have any actual math competency. First, California will spend about $135 BILLION this year on K-12 education and the best leadership Becker can offer is to gripe about a ~0.1% cut ($148M) elimination from the federal government? Second, Becker wants to invoke the budget surplus days of the 90s? Someone should tell Becker that Bill Clinton eliminated 11% of the Federal workforce (400K jobs) along with massive cuts to social welfare programs and the exiting of 11M people to help get us there. And finally, someone please explain to Becker what a rounding error is as 25% is not a rounding error. (3.1% nondefense discretionary versus 13% defense).
All of those facts are meaningless. OrangeManBad no matter what.