In the last few election cycles, the Republican party has focused heavily on the Department of Education — specifically its dissolution. With former President Donald Trump’s recent election victory, his specific plan for education in the U.S. has been a hot-button issue. A video from Trump’s campaign website, along with its accompanying article from September 2023, titled “President Trump’s Ten Principles For Great Schools Leading To Great Jobs,” has been circulating. This was posted under Agenda47, Trump’s manifesto of policies for his second term, and detailed President Trump’s goals for abolishing the Department of Education and the return of complete control of schools to the states.
States are already largely in control of education. According to the Department of Education, they provide about 92% of funding for elementary and secondary schools, while the federal government provides the remaining 8%.
Its website also mentions that the Department of Education distributes federal funds, illuminates issues in education, collects and shares research on aspects of education (teaching techniques, effective practices, etc.), and establishes policies related to financial aid. The DOE also enforces civil rights statutes to “ensure equal educational opportunity for all students, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age.”
President-elect Trump believes that the states will be much better at running education. In the video, he states, “We’re going to end education coming out of Washington D.C. We’re going to close it up — all those buildings all over the place and yet people that, in many cases, hate our children.” It is important to note that many of his goals require federal power and funding to be implemented.
The first goal, “Restoring Parental Rights,” focuses primarily on gender and what the article calls “left-wing indoctrination.” This plan would allow parents to “be immediately notified if a teacher or employee has worked to change their children’s name, pronouns, or understanding of his or her gender.” The rest of the plan continues to focus on gender identity, calling to reverse Biden’s policies on gender-affirming care and for Congress to pass a bill establishing male and female as the only genders recognized by the United States government.
This targeting of transgender youth is unmistakable and incredibly dangerous. According to polls conducted by the Trevor Project, a non-profit organization that provides support for LGBTQ+ youth, nearly 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary young people attempted suicide in the past year. Another poll found that 50% of trans and nonbinary young people reported that no one they live with respects their pronouns, and fewer than 40% of LGBTQ+ young people found their home to be affirming. Informing unsupportive parents of their children’s gender identity before the child is ready will have grave consequences.
Another one of Trump’s targets is Critical Race Theory (CRT), which he mentions in the section “Knowledge and Skills, Not CRT and Gender Indoctrination.” Critical Race Theory is a term that has become somewhat of a buzzword, which has led to some confusion about its actual meaning. According to the Legan Defense Fund, Critical Race Theory is defined as a legal, and, in this case, academic, framework that “denotes that systematic racism is part of American society.” A curriculum that teaches CRT does not shy away from the history of racism and systematic oppression in the United States. Trump’s plan calls for ridding schools of CRT, saying, “Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work.”
While putting in work to prepare America’s youth for success is certainly necessary to improve our education system, painting CRT as indoctrination, inappropriate and implying it is unnecessary is not a fair interpretation. CRT topics include talk of slavery and segregation, which were government-supported oppressive acts that are major parts of American history. Removing these teachings from schools does not erase that history, but it does make an effort to.
The Legal Defense Fund notes that laws banning CRT in schools “ban virtually any discussion about how racism has shaped our nation’s policies and history.” President-elect Trump’s plan to eliminate CRT is to cut federal funding to any school teaching it and reintroduce his 1776 Commission. This executive order was Trump’s response to CRT teachings and outlined a call for a teaching of history that focused largely on the triumphs of the Founding Fathers in establishing the nation. So, rather than talk about the failings of the Founders regarding their unwillingness to abolish slavery, an education following the 1776 Commission would focus only on the good that they have done, eliminating the nuance that exists in natural history.
Trump also plans to “reinstate prayer in public schools.” In 1962, the Supreme Court decided that school-sponsored prayers in public schools violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause. Since then, the Supreme Court has generally continued to uphold that standard. But President-elect Trump threatens to withhold federal funds for education agencies who “interfere” with a student’s right to pray.
The Agenda47 article also states that students will be guaranteed the ability to read religious texts or pray during noninstructional periods. According to the Department of Education, It is important to note that students are currently allowed to pray during noninstructional times. They may also be excused from class to fulfill religious obligations and are permitted to organize prayer groups or religious clubs. These are all laws protected by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education, and they only prohibit school-sponsored prayer. As long as schools and educators do not share their opinions regarding religious practices with students or engage or force students to pray, religious activities in public schools are protected under the current laws.
Trump does not only have plans for public schools on the elementary and secondary level, though. He plans to use the accreditation process to keep colleges and universities from teaching anything left-leaning. In the Agenda47 video, “Protecting Students from the Radical Left and Marxist Maniacs Infecting Educational Institutions,” Trump claims he will fire the “radical left accreditors that have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist Maniacs and lunatics.” Similar to his views on CRT, Trump believes that our institutions are currently “anti-American” and that academics are “indoctrinating America’s youth.”
His other goal for higher education builds off of this. He means to remove DEI employees and initiatives altogether, calling them Marxist. Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives take effect in the hiring process, student admissions and recruitment, campus culture, and other administrative and policy dealings. But, in the last year, many universities have had to roll back DEI initiatives with the passing of several state laws in Utah, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Tennessee. During Trump’s second presidential term, these universities will likely increase as he plans to target DEI initiatives and team members actively. This would not only mean a loss of jobs for countless university DEI employees, but other campus policies would also be in danger of being removed.
UCF, for example, prides itself on its inclusivity. In 2021, before the new laws, UCF was recognized as a recipient of the “Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award” for the seventh time, and according to the university’s website, 49.1% of UCF students are from “a traditionally underrepresented group.” Because of state laws, UCF and other Florida schools can no longer use federal funding to sponsor DEI initiatives. The roles and initiatives have now been phased out.
Overall, education will take a big hit in Trump’s second term, and students will bear the brunt of that attack. With Trump’s shockingly significant victory, those young people who voted for him (and those who didn’t) need to know what his policy means for our generation and those to come. His plans to eradicate the Department of Education will not just have a negligible effect. It is easy to feel like a candidate’s goals are far away and intangible, but they will impact everyone in the country, and it looks like it might start with the young people.