The Trump Administration continued its flurry of executive orders on Jan. 29, issuing three declarations with significant implications for public education. The new executive orders seek to end what the Administration describes as “indoctrination” in K-12 schools, launch a federal school choice initiative and facilitate investigations into campus protests deemed as antisemitic. Unlike the funding freeze order announced on Jan. 27 (and later rescinded) that applied broadly to all federal government agencies, the latest executive orders focused squarely on public education.
Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling
The executive order on “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” is wide-ranging and invokes Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 as the basis for “eliminating federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology; and protecting parental rights … with respect to any K-12 policies or conduct.” The order instructs the secretaries of defense, education, health and human services to consult with the U.S. Attorney General’s office to produce an “Ending Indoctrination Strategy” within 90 days.
The order uses language similar to that of laws in some states that are designed to limit classroom lessons about race, gender and U.S. history with the threat of eliminating federal grants or contracts that subsidize what the Administration terms “instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology” in TK-12 schools, as well as teacher training and employment and certification programs.
The Administration also directs the U.S. Attorney General to work with state and local officials to take legal action against school staff involved with facilitating a minor’s adoption of a gender identity that differs from their biological sex. Among the measures that could be considered unlawful facilitation are psychological or psychiatric counseling or treatment by school counselors; classifying a child as nonbinary; allowing children to use bathrooms or locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity; and allowing them to participate in school athletic competitions or other extracurricular activities “specifically designated for persons of the opposite sex.”
The provisions specific to schools in the order reflect the broad principles that were first advanced in the Jan. 20 executive order “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Among other regulations, that order stated that all federal agencies should “ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by sex and not identity” and that “federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology. Each agency shall assess grant conditions and grantee preferences and ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology.”
The Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 schooling order also reinstates the 1776 Commission from President Donald Trump’s first term to promote what the Administration defines as patriotic education and to counter program topics it views as divisive, such as race and slavery.
Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families
The “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families” executive order seeks to encourage the development of programs that allow families to use federal money to attend schools apart from their local option, including nonsectarian and faith-based private schools. The executive order references what it describes as the failure of the public education system and approvingly notes, “more than a dozen States have enacted universal K-12 scholarship programs, allowing families — rather than the government — to choose the best educational setting for their children.”
The order specifies that within 60 days, the Secretary of Education must issue guidance regarding how states can use federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives. It also states that, within 90 days, the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Labor will each submit a plan to the President with recommendations for how discretionary grant programs, including block grants such as the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDGB), can be used to expand school choice. The order also directs the Secretaries of Defense and Interior to determine how they might use funding to support expanded school choice programs.
Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism
The “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism” executive order primarily addresses institutions of higher learning, but relevant to TK-12 schools, it requires the Secretary of Education to, within 60 days, submit a report identifying all actions that might be taken to fight antisemitism. The report must include “an analysis of all Title VI complaints and administrative actions, including in K-12 education, related to anti-Semitism — pending or resolved after Oct. 7, 2023 — within the Department’s Office for Civil Rights.”
More analysis to come
CSBA’s Legal staff and Governmental Relations team are examining these executive orders to determine further implications for California public schools and will provide additional updates once more information is available.