President Donald Trump has signed over 100 executive orders since his inauguration in January. The topics and goals of these executive orders range from renaming the Gulf of Mexico to ending birthright citizenship. Trump has also promised throughout his campaign to close the Department of Education through executive action.
Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling, was signed on January 29th. This executive order reestablished The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which was an executive order that was terminated by former president Joe Biden. The commission is a group of 20 people nominated by the president whose goal is to promote patriotic education. The commission also includes the Presidential 1776 Award, which is awarded to a student who has great knowledge of the founding of the U.S. The order also calls for the Department of Education to give funding and administrative support to the commission. The commission will disband in two years unless extended by the President. This executive order will also require all schools that receive federal funding to have an educational program about the U.S Constitution on September 7th.
The purpose stated in this executive order is to prevent schools from teaching anti-American ideologies. As well as preventing students from being compelled to adopt different characteristics of their identity.
Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families was also signed on January 29th. This executive order enforces the Secretary of Education to give states guidance and explain how they can use federal formula funds to support parent choice regarding education as well as making education freedom a priority in discretionary grant programs. The order also enforces the Secretary of Defense to make a plan, so that military connected families can use funds from the Department of Defense. This means their children can attend a school of their choice including private, faith based, or charter schools.
The reasoning stated for this executive order was to give parents more choice in where their child goes to school to prevent their children’s education from being compromised.
Keeping Education Accessible and Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools, was signed on February 15th. This executive order lifts the requirement that children must have the COVID-19 vaccine to be enrolled into a public school. The reasoning behind this executive action was to prevent children who did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine from being declined an education. This executive order states “Given the incredibly low risk of serious COVID-19 illness for children and young adults, threatening to shut them out of an education is an intolerable infringement on personal freedom. Such mandates usurp parental authority and burden students of many faiths.”
Trump has promised to dismantle the Department of Education numerous times throughout his campaign, describing it as being filled with “radicals, zealots, and Marxists.” The Department of Education distributes billions of federal dollars to colleges and schools and regulates services for students with disabilities and low income or homeless students. Some schools can receive up to 75% of their funding from the federal government, depending on the district and its poverty levels, according to USA Facts. If Trump uses executive action to remove the Department of Education it could be devastating for public schools in impoverished areas because they wouldn’t receive nearly enough funding from state governments then they already do from the federal government.
Trump, signing numerous executive orders, appears to have led to some confusion and possible misinformation. These executive orders should be read thoroughly before assumption or panic to ensure clarity. Every executive order Trump has signed thus far and such details are located on whitehouse.gov.
