Expectations vary on what the new administration can and can’t deliver in the realm of curricula and parental rights as legal battles continue.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to ban from public schools critical race theory, stop boys who identify as transgender girls from playing in girls’ sports, and restore parental rights.
In March, Trump vowed on “day one” to undo the Biden administration’s expansion of Title IX protections to include “gender identity.”
Trump also stated on his campaign platform that he would cut federal funding for any school or program pushing critical race theory (CRT) or gender ideology. He also promised to “abolish teacher tenure for grades K–12 and adopt Merit Pay, cut the number of school administrators, adopt a Parental Bill of Rights, and implement the direct election of school principals by the parents.”
He has vowed to block federal funding to schools that refuse to comply and has threatened to abolish the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), although the latter would require an act of Congress.
On Nov. 19, Trump nominated Linda McMahon to lead the department, stating: “We will send education back to the states, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”
At an earlier campaign rally, he promised to stop the department from using taxpayer money to “indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing.”
Several blue state leaders, teachers’ unions, and civil rights groups are opposed to Trump’s agenda and have vowed to work against it, including through the courts.
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA) union, responded to Trump’s win the day after the election.
“This is not the outcome we campaigned for, nor the future we wanted for our students and families, but it is the road through history we now must travel,” Pringle said in a press release.
“Today, we lament, and tomorrow, we organize because our students need us advocating for them now more than ever. Our values don’t change based on who wins or loses an election. And we will continue to advocate and organize for what we believe in with all our strength,” she said.
By Brad Jones
