President Donald J. Trump signed two significant education-related executive orders on January 29. The first aims to increase educational freedom for families, while the second is designed to stop the indoctrination of children into “radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight.”
The Executive Order Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families directs the Department of Education to “issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives,” and it directs the DOE to prioritize education freedom “in discretionary grant programs.”
The directive explains the need for greater freedom for parents to improve their children’s academic success and provide “the best education for their children”:
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.
When only 30% of students are mastering basic subjects like reading and math, something is desperately wrong.
The order goes on to state that when schools fail to educate students, “It hinders our national competitiveness and devastates families and communities.”
The executive order provides more momentum for the growing educational freedom movement. The goals of this movement include giving teachers and schools freedom to innovate, encouraging school transparency, holding schools accountable for educational outcomes, safeguarding parental rights in education, and expanding school choice.
School choice is a vital aspect of educational freedom, offering parents a variety of options for how and where to educate their children. Options include traditional public schools, magnet schools, homeschooling opportunities, charter schools, online learning, private schools and hybrid models, which combine several alternatives.
States that support parents’ rights in education provide funding for these choices through different means, such as scholarships, vouchers, educational savings accounts, tax credits and tax deductions. The best option for parents is when states allow funds to follow students to their schooling choice.
While the federal government doesn’t control state legislatures or boards of education, which set policies, regulations and guidelines in each state, it does provide education dollars to states through a variety of programs. States can’t be forced to increase educational freedom, but the order offers incentives to improve educational freedom through funding from different federal departments.
The second order, Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling, first explains some of the activist ideologies that have swept across our educational system and why they are damaging. The order states that parents entrust their children to schools to provide them “with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand.”
Instead, the directive explains, “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.”
The order indicts false, immoral and divisive ideologies like critical race theory and gender ideology, explaining their effect on students:
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.
The order goes on to direct several agencies to collaborate with the attorney general to develop a strategy to end “federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools.”
In addition, federal agencies must monitor schools that receive federal monies, ensuring that they hold an annual educational program, teach students about the U.S. Constitution on September 17, Constitution Day.
Finally, the executive order reestablishes the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which Trump launched in September 2020, appointing Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry P. Arnn to serve as chairman.
One goal for the revived commission is to promote patriotic education, while a second is “to advise and promote the work of the White House Task Force on Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday (“Task Force 250”) and the United States Semiquincentennial Commission.”
Related articles and resources:
Focus on the Family’s free parenting resource Equipping Parents for Back to School explains issues like educational freedom, parental rights in education, and religious freedom and free speech in schools. It’s a terrific resource for parents who want to advocate for their children and guide them toward academic success.
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