As I consider the results of this year’s election and what it means for me and those I care about, one of my biggest concerns is how Donald Trump’s return might affect education in the United States. As a student studying to be a high school English teacher, the policies this new administration implements regarding education will directly impact my educational experience and future career. It is important to understand the true danger of these plans, which, if executed, would have a detrimental impact on education.
When Donald Trump’s policy plans were released in Agenda 47, his outline for what he wants to do in the US in his next term, he was explicit about his large-scale changes to education. While he does not outline a concrete plan for how he plans to execute his agenda, he does tell us about his overarching goals for education in this country. His plans for education throughout the agenda stay the same: to found a school choice program, to make history programs more patriotic, to remove current Title IX protections, and to remove what he deems “Marxist” ideas and “gender ideology” from classrooms. If implemented, this policy will be disastrous to the educational sphere and negatively affect students, especially in public schools, from kindergarten to the end of their higher education journeys.
While Donald Trump’s plans for educational reform are vague yet disastrous, the Heritage Foundation cultivated a detailed plan in their infamous collection of policy proposals, Project 2025. Since the days of Ronald Reagan, the Heritage Foundation has released a “Mandate for Leadership” as a guideline for the next Republican Candidate. While Trump has repeatedly denied any connection to the think tank, many speculate this is untrue due to the history of conservatives implementing the Foundation’s plans and his connection to the authors of the document. The vast majority of the directors for the project were members of the first Trump Administration.
Following the election, numerous conservative politicians and commentators have come forward to announce that Project 2025 is their true agenda. Despite denying any connection to the Heritage Foundation and their manifesto throughout the election cycle, many Republicans have back-tracked on their previous statements and admitted that they support the controversial document. Matt Walsh, a Christian nationalist political commentator, whose podcast is listened to by millions of conservatives, wrote on X, “Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda.” Steve Bannon, who was the White House Chief Strategist during Trump’s first term, praised Walsh’s comments, instructing his team to “put that everywhere.”
Trump’s plan for his term, Agenda 47, shares many educational goals with Project 2025. The only difference is Trump’s policies are less fleshed out than the detailed Project 2025 plans. The map for education in our country offered by Project 2025 shares the same goals as Trump’s plans, the writers just analyze their approach in much greater detail. Ultimately, it is impossible to know at this time whether Trump really will follow this agenda but what is certain is that if any of his current plans are carried out it will be detrimental to the educational system in our nation.
Trump’s biggest goal in his assault against education is to abolish the Department of Education and “move education back to the states.” With no federal oversight, states will decide whether to offer programs for disabled and academically challenged students. The Office of Civil Rights is a sub-agency of the Department of Education. This agency enforces federal civil rights laws, religious freedom in education and health privacy rights. This means one of the many roles of this department is to ensure that there is no discrimination in schools throughout the country. Regarding their oversight of religious freedom, it is also no wonder that Trump wants to disband the office. Multiple times throughout Agenda 47 he voices his desire to impose Christian prayers and readings in public schools.
In Agenda 47, Trump is adamant in his decision to implement a national school choice program. For the past few years, conservative media has placed a special emphasis on implementing school choice. School choice means that rather than automatically directing public funds to public schools, every student would be given tax dollars for tuition for whatever school they want. Republicans believe that this will give more students access to private and online schools as well as offer funds for homeschooled students. At first glance, this program sounds like a way to offer more students the chance to attend non-public institutions. But upon closer consideration school choice will simply put more money into the pockets of already wealthy private institutions while removing much-needed funding from our public schools. Critics argue that because these programs are federally funded, public tax dollars should not go toward religious private schools. Private schools have the right to reject a student for having a disability, not being proficient in English, or because of their sexual orientation. Because of this, many students will still not have a choice of what school to attend. School choice does not offer more opportunities for students; it will simply make public education worse for students who are not able to take advantage of the program.
Throughout Agenda 47, Trump makes clear the extent of his disdain for progressives and leftists, who he lumps together as “Marxists.” One of his top concerns is that they are radicalizing children, a battle cry that has been heard from the right for the past few years. He promises that on his first day in office, he will make it his goal to remove radical zealots and Marxists from the Department of Education. Seems like an unnecessary step if you ask me since he plans to close it either way.
Targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ambassadors and administrators is one of the top goals of the next administration. Trump plans to come after these advocates at all levels of education, including universities. He also believes that through racially specific scholarship programs and admissions events, universities throughout the country are being racially biased against white students and that these students deserve reparations for “discrimination.” He promises to employ the Department of Justice to pursue civil rights cases against these schools to fine them the entire amount of their endowment. He plans to use the money from these lawsuits to found a new, online university which he calls The American Academy. Using the College Accreditation System, Donald Trump promises to come after colleges that do not defend the American Tradition or remove DEI faculty positions. Overall, his plans to target universities are unified by a goal to punish institutions that promote diversity.
Nothing is safe in Donald Trump’s onslaught of attacks against American education and Title IX is no exception. Title IX prohibits discrimination in any school or educational program. The civil rights law has seen many amendments since its institution in 1972. In May 2020, the first Trump Administration announced many significant changes to Title IX. Under this new policy, some forms of sex-based harassment were no longer identified as a violation of Title IX. Another change was that institutions now only had to investigate formal reports of sexual assault.
When he took office, President Joe Biden rolled back these changes and added protections for LGBTQ+ individuals. In his next term, Trump plans on reinstating his former amendments to Title IX, as well as including a new stipulation that defines sex as only “male” and “female,” a clear assault on the transgender community. Significantly, his previous changes to Title IX, which he plans to reinstate, raise the requirements needed to prove a case of sexual misconduct. These changes also limited the types of sexual misconduct that universities were required to investigate to stay in compliance with Title IX. The amendments to Title IX that Donald Trump plans to reinstate in his next term remove rights from victims of sexual assault and misconduct, thus bolstering protections for offenders.
Trans youth are among the most targeted groups in our nation and Trump did not miss a chance to berate them in Agenda 47. Throughout the document, he claims that one of the most dire issues in our country is trans women participating in women’s sporting events. While I doubt Trump ever cared about women’s sports until doing so became popular among conservatives, it is important to take his threat seriously as these policies will negatively impact the lives and mental health of trans individuals across the country.
Donald Trump ends his plans for education by promising special treatment and additional funding to the schools and school districts that follow his outline for education. To receive these privileges the schools must meet four criteria. They must abolish teacher tenure in grades K-12. Next, they must reduce the number of administrative positions and fire all DEI-focused faculty members. He emphasizes that they must adopt a Parent’s Bill of Rights and universal school choice. Lastly, they must implement the direct election of the school’s principal by the parents. If these four criteria are met, Donald Trump promises he will give favorable treatment to these schools and districts.
I could not include every promise Donald Trump makes regarding education throughout his policy plan. Nor can I tell you how he will attempt to complete many of these unrealistic, grandiose suggestions. What I can do is identify that every one of these proposals is also seen in Project 2025. In this document, they do explain how they plan to execute these and other plans that will undermine our nation’s education system and harm rather than help students. We have yet to know Donald Trump’s exact connection to the document but the similarities in his education plans and those outlined in Project 2025 can give us a few ideas.
If carried out, the changes to our education system that Donald Trump and his coming administration promise to implement will be detrimental to the future of our nation. His promise to fire educators who he believes share different values than him is terrifying as a future teacher. The steady decline in the number of teachers in our country over the past few years will not be tempered by these restrictive policies, as aspiring educators become fearful that they will be unable to follow their values in their chosen career.
Unfortunately, students are the true victims of Trump’s proposed amendments. Students from kindergarten through the university level will be impacted by these sweeping changes. With the Department of Education abolished, regulations and protections for students will be erased. States will be able to make their own decisions on whether to offer programs for disabled students while also receiving additional funding if they follow Donald Trump’s outlines for education. Transgender youth will undoubtedly suffer as their very existence in schools is combatted.
This incentivized program will change the state of education in our country, as schools will be motivated to implement policies responding to “culture war” issues for additional funding, rather than being pushed to strive for higher educational outcomes. As a nation, we must come together to fight against Trump’s proposed changes to the very fabric of education in our country.