Another day, another executive order handed down by the Trump administration. This time, the focus is on diverting funds meant for public schools under the guise of “school choice.”
On Jan. 29, President Trump signed the “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” executive order. The order is being marketed as an expansion of school choice, allowing parents to have broader options for their children’s education.
Indeed, the funding for private institutions, religious institutions, and alternative schooling is included in the order. However, the language suggests that the goal is to divert funds away from institutions that teach about the history of marginalized groups in America, prioritizing organizations that teach nationalist conservative ideology. This prioritization is referred to as “patriotic education.”
According to the order, “innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics.”
While the teaching of America’s past wrongs — such as Jim Crow, slavery, Japanese internment, Black Codes, and Native American exile — may trigger discomfort for some, there is no curriculum in the United States that “compels” students to “adopt identities” based on race or ethnicity.
The order also dismisses the economic disadvantages faced by marginalized groups due to the aforementioned “wrongs,” stating, “‘White Privilege’ or ‘unconscious bias’ actually promotes racial discrimination and undermines national unity.”
While the order is lengthy, “Section 3, Ending Indoctrination Strategy,” outlines a 90-day timeline to eliminate funding for:
(i) All federal funding sources and streams, including grants or contracts, that directly or indirectly support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology:
(A) in K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs, or activities.
(B) in K-12 teacher education, certification, licensing, employment, or training.
The Trump administration has stressed that its definition of “discriminatory equity ideology” includes efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the teaching of America’s turbulent history casting the country in an unfavorable light, and the teaching of Black efforts to dismantle racist practices throughout the nation’s history.
The thought behind the order is not new, as states across the nation have been adopting miniature versions
of the policy. The “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida, the banned books movement, the dismantling of DEI in federal agencies, and attacks on critical race theory — which is not taught at the K-12 level, but rather at colleges and universities — all culminated in this bill.While it is titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” there are radical claims within the text itself.
The order falsely claims that public institutions are engaged in “steering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent.”
There are no documented instances of schools promoting surgical mutilation.
Public funding is being withheld and penalties imposed on institutions that promote the “social” changing of a student’s gender. Socially changing gender is defined as using nicknames given by students that do not align with gender norms or using preferred pronouns.
It remains unclear
whether the order is lawful or will be enacted in its entirety, as many of Trump’s executive orders since his inauguration have been successfully challenged. The recent order to freeze Federal Funding grants was declared unconstitutional by a federal court and was quickly rescinded.Only time will tell how this will impact the majority of America’s students attending K-12 public schools.
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