Trump orders Education Department to guide states on use of federal funds for school choice

by Shauneen Miranda, Louisiana Illuminator
January 30, 2025

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed executive orders Wednesday that prioritize school choice funding and seek to end what the administration sees as “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling.”

Trump is carrying through on education-related campaign promises he made as part of his sweeping vision to “save American education.” These efforts mark the latest in a deluge of wide-ranging executive orders the president began signing since he took office last week.

One executive order directs the U.S. Education Department secretary “to issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds” to support K-12 school choice initiatives within the next two months.

Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for Education secretary, has yet to sit before a Senate panel for a confirmation hearing.

McMahon — a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, the prior head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first administration and a wealthy donor — could be pivotal to carrying out Trump’s sweeping education agenda.

The order also directs the Education secretary to “include education freedom as a priority in discretionary grant programs, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.”

Trump is also tasking the Department of Health and Human Services with issuing guidance on how states receiving block grants “can use them to expand educational choice and support families who choose educational alternatives to governmental entities, including private and faith-based options.”

He is also requiring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to review how any “military-connected families” could use Department of Defense funds to attend a school of their choice and must submit a plan to describe these mechanisms and the steps to implement them.

Trump is asking the same for the Department of the Interior — requiring that the agency’s next leader review how anyone eligible to attend a school within the Bureau of Indian Education can use federal funds to attend a school of their choosing.

Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the department, appears to be on a smooth path to becoming the next Interior secretary.

‘Radical indoctrination’ in K-12 schools

Meanwhile, Trump signed a sweeping executive order that aims to bar federal funding for schools that teach “discriminatory equity ideology,” which the administration describes as “an ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of immoral generalizations.”

The order also requires the respective secretaries of Education; Defense; and Health and Human Services; to provide Trump with an “ending indoctrination strategy” in the next 90 days.

The plan would include recommendations for “eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools.”

Trump also signed another executive order Wednesday that takes additional measures to try to combat antisemitism on college campuses. 

Last updated 5:41 p.m., Jan. 29, 2025

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