It's been a little more than week into President Donald Trump's second term, and the executive orders demonstrating this "Golden Age of America" keep coming. On Wednesday afternoon, Trump issued executive orders on "EXPANDING EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAMILIES" and "ENDING RADICAL INDOCTRINATION IN K-12 SCHOOLING."
The first executive order focuses heavily on school choice, while also acknowledging how standards have unfortunately gone down. This has been the case since the Department of Education was first created during the Carter administration in October 1979.
🚨 President Trump has signed an executive order to expand school choice and “support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.” pic.twitter.com/fgZ3yXTMjS
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 29, 2025
It begins in part by mentioning:
Section 1. Purpose. 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. According to this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent 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.
When our public education system fails such a large segment of society, it hinders our national competitiveness and devastates families and communities. For this reason, 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. These States have highlighted the most promising avenue for education reform: educational choice for families and competition for residentially assigned, government-run public schools. The growing body of rigorous research demonstrates that well-designed education-freedom programs improve student achievement and cause nearby public schools to improve their performance.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.
Sec. 3. Guidance on Supporting State-based K-12 Educational Choice. Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Education shall issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives.
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Trump has focused on parental rights in education, as well as giving states the authority on the issue.
As the second executive order begins by mentioning:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Parents trust America’s schools to provide their children with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand.
In recent years, however, parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight. Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination. 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. 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.
Imprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation’s children not only violates longstanding anti-discrimination civil rights law in many cases, but usurps basic parental authority. 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, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), and sex-based equality and opportunity, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). Similarly, demanding acquiescence to “White Privilege” or “unconscious bias,” actually promotes racial discrimination and undermines national unity.
My Administration will enforce the law to ensure that recipients of Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.; Title IX, 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.; FERPA, 20 U.S.C. 1232g; and the PPRA, 20 U.S.C. 1232h.
🚨 President Trump has signed an executive order to end radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling and re-establish the 1776 Commission to promote Patriotic Education. pic.twitter.com/Ij58HCs4Qw
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 29, 2025
Indeed, during the previous Biden-Harris administration, there was considerable attention paid to supposedly transgender minors, vulnerable children who were targeted by adults, including teachers and others at school. There were far too many stories of schools looking to transition minors without their parents' consent or even knowledge.
Further, under the Biden-Harris administration, boys who claimed to be girls were able to have access to girls' private spaces, such as locker rooms and bathrooms. The administration radically rewrote Title IX to include "gender identity." Plenty of states quickly refused to comply and sued, and the House of Representatives also voted to reverse the rewrite. The administration rescinded the rewrite during Biden's final weeks in office.
As Trump's executive order also mentioned, "parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight." That brings us to other parts of the executive order responding to such "indoctrination."
Section 3 mentions an "Ending Indoctrination Strategy," which reads that "Within 90 days of the date of this order, to advise the President in formulating future policy, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall provide an Ending Indoctrination Strategy to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy..."
It's not merely the Department of Education that is to be involved, with Trump having nominated Linda McMahon to serve as secretary, but also the Department of Justice, with Trump having nominated Pam Bondi for attorney general, who is expected to be confirmed. As that relevant part of the section reads:
(c) The Attorney General shall coordinate with State attorneys general and local district attorneys in their efforts to enforce the law and file appropriate actions against K-12 teachers and school officials who violate the law by:
(i) sexually exploiting minors;
(ii) unlawfully practicing medicine by offering diagnoses and treatment without the requisite license; or
(iii) otherwise unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student.
Trump's executive order looks to go further, though, with Section 4 "Reestablishing the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission and Promoting Patriotic Education," referring to a commission that was established by executive order during the very end of Trump's first term "to promote patriotic education," only to then be terminated on President Joe Biden's first day in office.
There's also a section on "Additional Patriotic Education Measures."
The Department of Education's X account posted that same day about these and other executive orders.
✔ Empower Parents and Students Through School Choice
— U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) January 29, 2025
✔ Put an End to Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schools
✔ Combat Antisemitism on College Campuses
✔ Make Education Great Again
We understand the assignment, @POTUS!
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