President Donald Trump will return to the White House on Monday, and, though education accounted for only a sliver of his campaign platform, the Republican could use his second term to attempt far-reaching policy changes that would reshape the landscape for K-12 schools.
Trump—who in his first term unsuccessfully sought hefty cuts to federal school funding, proposed a private school tax-credit scholarship program, and pitched a merger of the education and labor departments—will take office with a laundry list of campaign promises he vowed to tackle on his first day back. Those early actions could affect schools—even though K-12 schools are predominantly overseen and funded by state and local governments.
But whether Trump prioritizes education, and what actually makes it from the campaign trail to the White House, remains to be seen, said Jeff Henig, professor emeritus of political science and education at Columbia University, Teachers College.
“I think he’s going to lean toward doing a few things that he can do quickly,” Henig said. “Ideally, things that he can do without having to fight a political battle in Congress or without any risk of running into judicial limitations on national involvement in the traditional state and local arena.”
Trump has floated hundreds of Day 1 promises, some that include schools
Trump repeatedly promised action around transgender students and Title IX on the campaign trail. In one rally, he said President Joe Biden’s attempt to expand the regulation to protect students from discrimination based on gender identity would be terminated on Day 1 (a federal judge in Kentucky beat him to it; the new regulation was struck down earlier this month).
He also promised to cut federal funding to any schools “pushing Critical Race Theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.”
Slashing funding would not be a slam dunk through just an executive order, though he could still pursue actions targeting transgender students or limiting what the office for civil rights asks about in future surveys for its biennial civil rights data collection. The data collection focuses on racial disparities in academic offerings, discipline, and more, and for the first time in the 2021-22 school year, asked schools whether they enrolled any nonbinary students.
Those are avenues Trump could pursue where he may not have to fight hard, and are political wins for him, Henig said.
But there are issues not directly dealing with schools that could end up having a significant ripple effect on students, such as the president’s vow to crack down on immigration and launch a massive deportation effort beginning Day 1.
“There’s a real difference between what we call education policy and what will really make a difference in schools and communities,” Henig said. “I think what’s really going to make a difference in schools and communities, in many instances, is what this immigration reform agenda looks like in practice.”
Educators have worried that could mean overturning a Department of Homeland Security policy designating schools, bus stops, churches, child care centers, after-school programs, and some other spots as “protected areas” where immigration agents are discouraged from carrying out raids and making arrests.
Others fear his administration will take aim at the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision that protects the right to free, public education for undocumented students.
The possibilities have already sparked some city and school leaders to begin thinking about what to do if officers arrive at their doors.
Sweeping education reform is not a priority, but schools could still be affected
Education watchers predict that a second Trump term will be a reprise, in some ways, of his first: downsizing the role of—or entirely eliminating—the U.S. Department of Education, slashing federal school funding, and expanding school choice at the federal level. Many of his efforts were dashed during his first term, though they could circle back around now with internal skeptics largely out of the way, mostly loyal Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, and a favorable U.S. Supreme Court.
Though Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025, a 900-page policy agenda drafted by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation that outlines various changes aimed at scaling back the federal role in education, he has selected several of its contributors for positions in his administration.
But sweeping education reform has not been much of a priority for the last decade, either during Trump’s first term or President Joe Biden’s four years. The topic was absent in the only presidential debate, and Trump’s education-related comments in the campaign were broad and fiery, rather than particular policy proposals. The Biden administration never carved out a robust K-12 policy agenda, despite sending a staggering amount of funding to the nation’s schools—including funds that came from legislation Trump signed in his first term.
“I think his administration is going to be much more aggressive,” Henig said. “I draw a distinction again between what he’s willing to do on K-12 education per se, and what he’s going to be doing as part of his broader social agenda. Education just has fewer payoffs for him and is more protected by Congress and others who want to continue to fund education initiatives.”
Other federal agencies and Cabinet positions—including the Health and Human Services Department, which oversees vaccines and immunization recommendations, and the Agriculture Department, which oversees the national school lunch program—could ultimately be relevant to schools’ day-to-day operations, too.
For the long haul, Trump’s pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon, will set the tone of the department and its priorities. The nation’s two largest teachers’ unions have telegraphed their concerns for what these choices could mean for public schools, but American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said previously McMahon’s interest in career and technical education and literacy was promising.
“We’re in a wait and see mode,” she said in a November, post-election interview. “But our value, our line, our test is: Are you going to help or are you going to impede the work of educators helping children learn? Are you going to be about children, families, and communities? That’s our line.”
2025-01-17 19:25:44
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