Trump’s Promise to Shutter Dept of Education Could End Woke Agenda in Schools
When President-elect Donald Trump was in the midst of campaigning, he promised numerous times to shut down the Department of Education and return education to the states.
As he said at one campaign rally back in September:
But his agenda for education goes far beyond this. And, if accomplished, it would begin to release schools from the stranglehold of woke ideologies, end the sexualization and confusion children, bring about more accountability, safeguard parents’ rights, and stop the assault on girls sports, safety and privacy.
Whether or not the next administration will dismantle the DOE remains to be seen, as Congress would have to approve it. Eliminating the department would leave education up to the states – and keep future presidential administrations from enacting egregious policies.
One key issue, as Inside Higher Education points out, is which department would manage “the $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio and the broader federal student loan program.” But there are already proposals to have the Treasury Department take over these loans, as the news outlet reports.
In 2024, the DOE had a budget of almost $80 billion, and the department has around 4,400 employees, making it one of the smallest federal agencies. But the agency has power beyond its size, as it sets some policies that schools must follow, controls student loans, and “issues about $100 billion in student loans a year along with $30 billion in Pell Grants,” as Inside Higher Education reports.
While state and local governments control most of education, the federal government also offers education grants to states and school districts, and those who receive grants must follow federal regulations.
The GOP platform, also known as Agenda 47, details what President-elect Trump wants to accomplish over his term in office:
1. Return Education to the States: “The United States spends more money per pupil on Education than any other Country in the World, and yet we are at the bottom of every educational list in terms of results. We are going to close the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. and send it back to the States, where it belongs, and let the States run our educational system as it should be run.”
2. Accessible Higher Education: “To reduce the cost of Higher Education, Republicans will support the creation of additional, drastically more affordable alternatives to a traditional four-year College degree.”
3. Stop Illegal Immigration: Agenda 47 states that “Open Borders Policies … have driven up the cost of Housing, Education, and Healthcare for American families.”
4. Universal School Choice: “Families should be empowered to choose the best Education for their children. We support Universal School Choice in every State in America. We will expand 529 Education Savings Accounts and support Homeschooling Families equally.
5. Great Principals and Great Teachers: The administration “will support schools that focus on Excellence and Parental Rights. We will support ending Teacher Tenure, adopting Merit pay, and allowing various publicly supported Educational models.”
6. Safe, Secure, and Drug-Free Schools: The platform supports “overhauling standards on school discipline, advocate for immediate suspension of violent students, and support hardening schools to help keep violence away from our places of learning.”
7. Restore Parental Rights: The administration would direct agencies to “restore Parental Rights in Education and enforce our Civil Rights Laws to stop schools from discriminating on the basis of Race.”
8. Knowledge and Skills, Not CRT and Gender Indoctrination: Agenda 47 says the federal government will work to “ensure children are taught fundamentals like Reading, History, Science, and Math, not Leftwing propaganda. We will defund schools that engage in inappropriate political indoctrination of our children using Federal Taxpayer Dollars.”
9. Promote Love of Country with Authentic Civics Education: The new administration says it wants to “reinstate the 1776 Commission, promote Fair and Patriotic Civics Education, and veto efforts to nationalize Civics Education. We will support schools that teach America’s Founding Principles and Western Civilization.”
10. Overcome the Crisis in Liberal Arts Education: The platform offers support for “the restoration of Classic Liberal Arts Education.”
11. Freedom to Pray: The administration would “champion the First Amendment Right to Pray and Read the Bible in school, and stand up to those who violate the Religious Freedoms of American students.”
12. End Left-wing Gender Ideology: The agenda makes clear, “We will keep men out of women’s sports, … stop Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition, reverse Biden’s radical rewrite of Title IX Education Regulations, and restore protections for women and girls.”
It’s an ambitious agenda, for sure.
We wish the president-elect and his administration well as they seek to accomplish important goals, many of which align with Christian values such as freedom of speech, religious freedom, and parents’ rights to educate and raise children according to their deeply held beliefs.
Related articles and resources:
Back to School With Sexualized Lessons
Dad Confronts School Board for Allowing Boys in Girls Restrooms
Education is on the Ballot – Over 20,000 School Board Seats up for Election
‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents
Title IX Redefinition of ‘Sex’ Faces Defiance and a Flood of Lawsuits
Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?
The National Education Association Wants to Indoctrinate Children Across the Country
Students’ Test Scores Tank After School Consults ‘Woke Kindergarten’
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Johnston is a culture and policy analyst for Focus on the Family and a staff writer for the Daily Citizen. He researches, writes and teaches about topics of concern to families such as parental rights, religious freedom, LGBT issues, education and free speech. Johnston has been interviewed by CBS Sunday Morning, The New York Times, Associated Press News, The Christian Post, Rolling Stone and Vice, and is a frequent guest on radio and television outlets. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from San Diego State University with a Bachelors in English and a Teaching Credential. He and his wife have been married 30 years and have three grown sons.
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