Over the past two weeks, President Trump’s administration has floated a raft of far-reaching and divisive policy proposals, and it is reportedly considering a major overhaul of the U.S. Department of Education and the multibillion dollar programs it oversees.
If brought to execution, those plans would potentially bring major changes to the nation’s school systems and for the constellation of education organizations that provide them with products and services in different areas.
Some of the administration’s ideas face an uncertain path, and others have been or seem likely to be challenged in court.
Here’s a recap of where things stand:
Dismantling the Department of Education
The Trump administration is drafting an executive order that is designed to eventually eliminate the federal agency, and in the short term, break apart and severely reduce its functions, according to a media report.
The president campaigned on a vow to push to end the agency, and many Republicans in Congress have said they agree with taking that sweeping step. Democrats on Capitol Hill, however, have consistently opposed the measure, which would almost certainly require approval by federal lawmakers.
Those familiar with the administration’s plans with the executive order say the administration is aware of the legal constraints it would face in eliminating the agency, according to the Washington Post, citing anonymous sources familiar with the plans.
So, as an alternative, Trump is exploring how he can strip many of the agency’s functions, such as its oversight over student loans, the Post reported. One idea floated in Project 2025, the right-leaning blueprint that lays out plans for overhauling the federal government, is to move student loan functions to the Treasury Department and civil rights enforcement to the Justice Department.
Trump has already taken steps to gut civil rights enforcement at the Justice Department. And as Education Week has reported, the administration has signaled it will take a starkly different approach to civil rights enforcement at the Department of Education than the Biden administration pursued.
It recently took the unusual step, for instance, of announcing it would investigate the Denver Public Schools for opening a gender-neutral bathroom in one of its schools.
Threat to Withhold Federal Funds Over Race and Gender Resources
In an executive order put forward last week, Trump demanded that the secretary of education and leaders of a group of federal agency heads deliver recommendations to him for eliminating funding for K-12 schools that engage in what he labeled “indoctrination” over race and gender topics.
The executive order specifically says that it applies to all federal funding sources and streams, including grants and contracts, pertaining to curriculum and instruction, programs, and activities.
“[P]arents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight,” the order says. “Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination.”
The legality of Washington attempting to restrict state and local lessons is questionable, at best.
Federal law, including the Every Student Succeeds Act, expressly forbids federal officials from controlling what curriculum states, school districts, and schools use. Those restrictions on federal involvement in education have been consistently supported by Republicans wary of Washington attempting to dictate teaching and learning in local communities.
Nonetheless, Trump says he wants recommendations on cutting federal funding and support for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools.”
The order says that recommendations from different agencies must include a summary and analysis of federal funding streams focused on the topics targeted by the administration in K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs and activities; teacher education, licensing, and training.
Each agency is supposed to spell out its “process to prevent or rescind federal funds, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” being used at the state and local level.
While federal support for K-12 education amounts to only about 10 percent of all aid going to schools, the U.S. Department of Education overall major funding streams designed to support specific populations and priorities.
Those include Title I (for impoverished student populations); Title II (professional development); and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (for special needs populations).
Push to Expand School Choice
In a separate executive order, Trump directed his secretary of education to provide guidance on how states can use federal formula funds to support “educational choice initiatives.”
Additionally, the order says that the department of education should include “education freedom” as a priority in discretionary grant programs, “as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.”
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Both the secretary of labor and secretary of education, within 90 says, are ordered to review discretionary grant programs and submit a plan that makes recommendations to expand school choice.
The order also says that the Department of Health and Human Services needs to issue guidance within 90 days on whether and how states receiving block grants for families and children can “expand educational choice and support families who choose educational alternatives to governmental entities, including private and faith-based options.”
Trump and Republicans in Congress have made no secret of their ambitions to bring more private school choice into federal education programs.
During his first term, Trump proposed rechanneling $1 billion from the federal Title I program and devoting it to school choice. The measure, however, did not make it into law.
Federal Funding “Pause” on Hold
Last week, the Trump administration issued a memo ordering that federal agencies “pause” grant funding, sowing chaos across government, as various departments — including education — were asked to provide a full list of what sources of money would be held up.
A day later, the administration clarified that major education programs — it named Title I and IDEA, and various financial aid mechanisms — would not be touched, though the status of other programs was unclear. A day after that, facing a court order block of the action, the administration said it was dropping the directive entirely.
Even after that reversal, a number of advocacy groups have gone to federal court to ensure no such freeze went forward.
Those groups said there was confusion about whether the administration was still attempting to impose a funding pause in different agencies, and that there was evidence that some organizations reliant on federal aid had seen federal aid cut off.
Two federal judges have since blocked the freeze from moving forward. One of them wrote in her ruling that the administration’s actions potentially run afoul of the constitution by “interfering with Congress’s appropriation of federal funds,” as the New York Times reported.
Check back on EdWeek Market Brief’s K-12 Market News for updates on the proposals coming from the administration, and their implications for companies.