Education researchers are being urged to broaden public advocacy as federal education research capacity faces sustained disruption, including mass firings, contract cuts, and stalled grant funding. The issue came up at the Association for Education Finance and Policy’s annual conference in Chicago during discussions on rebuilding the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Amber Northern, an IES policy emissary tied to the Trump administration, urged researchers to “turn up the volume” to sustain education evidence systems, arguing that rebuilding IES will require broader public pressure. Northern previously served as director of research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Researchers pushed back over the field’s remaining uncertainty and the inability to seek new grants, underscoring the high-stakes choice between staying silent and mobilizing political attention to preserve education research infrastructure.