President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Wednesday directing federal agencies to expand educational freedom and opportunity for families and end “radical indoctrination” in K–12 education.
The executive order to expand school choice is designed “to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children” by using federal funding “to support K–12 educational choice initiatives.”
“Parents want and deserve the best education for their children. But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K–12 school,” the executive order reads. “According to this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 70% of eighth graders were below proficient in reading, and 72% were below proficient in math. Moreover, geographically based school assignments exacerbate the cost of housing in districts with preferred schools, straining the finances of millions of American families sacrificing for their children’s futures.”
The order indicates that “education freedom” will be a “priority in discretionary grant programs” and proposes enabling “low-income, working families,” military families, and children eligible for the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Schools to use federal funding to attend the private, faith-based, or charter school of their choice.
An additional executive order to end “radical indoctrination” is designed to ensure that schools that receive federal funding “comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights.”
It primarily addresses the issues of gender ideology and “critical race theory” in schools.
“In recent years … parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight,” read the order. “Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination.”
The order prohibits “discriminatory equity ideology” in public schools, which is defined 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 prohibits federal funding at public K–12 schools from supporting “social transition” of minors from one gender to another.
“In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics. In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed,” the order continued. “These practices not only erode critical thinking but also sow division, confusion, and distrust, which undermine the very foundations of personal identity and family unity.”
The order specifically aims to eliminate federal funding or support “for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K–12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”
“Imprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our nation’s children not only violates long-standing anti-discrimination civil rights law in many cases, but usurps basic parental authority,” the order reads.
“For example, steering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent or involvement or allowing males access to private spaces designated for females may contravene federal laws that protect parental rights,” the order reads.
“Similarly, demanding acquiescence to ‘white privilege’ or ‘unconscious bias’ actually promotes racial discrimination and undermines national unity,” the order continues.
The order also aims “to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible nation and the values for which we stand.” It promotes “patriotic education,” which it defines as “an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding and foundational principles.”
For instance, the order reestablishes the “1776 Commission” in the U.S. Department of Education — made up of a maximum of 20 unpaid members — to develop “patriotic education,” mainly by developing lectures to honor the 250th anniversary of American independence.
