By COLLIN BINKLEY, Associated Press Education Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — of Donald Trump vision for education revolves around one goal: to rid America’s schools of perceptions of ” awakening ” and “leftist indoctrination”.

The president-elect wants to ban classroom lessons about gender identity and structural racism. He wants to abolish it diversity and inclusion offices. He wants to keep transgender athletes from girls’ sports.

Throughout his campaign, the Republican has portrayed schools as a political battleground to be won back from the left. Now that he’s won the White House, he plans to use federal money as leverage to move forward his vision of education all over the nation.

Trump’s education plan pledges to cut funding for schools that defy him on a myriad of issues.

On his first day in office, Trump repeatedly said he would cut money to “any school that promotes critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.” On the campaign trail, Trump said he would “not give a dime” to schools with vaccine or mask requirements.

He has said it will be done through executive action, although even some of his supporters say he does not have the authority to make such swift and sweeping changes.

Trump’s opponents say his vision of America’s schools is warped by politics — that the kind of liberal indoctrination he rails against is a fiction. They say his proposals will undermine public education and hurt the students who need school services the most.

“It’s fear-based information without facts and I would call it propaganda,” said Wil Del Pilar, senior vice president for the Education Trust, a research and advocacy organization. “There is no evidence that students are taught to question their sexuality in schools. There is no evidence that our American education system is full of maniacs.”

Trump’s platform calls for ‘massive funding preferences’ for states and schools ending teacher tenure, universal adoption school choice programs and allow parents to choose school principals.

Perhaps his most ambitious promise is to completely shut down the US Department of Education, a goal of conservative politicians for decades, saying it has been infiltrated by “radicals.”

America’s K-12 public schools get about 14 percent of their revenue from the federal government, mostly from programs aimed at low-income students and special education. The vast majority of school money comes from local taxes and state governments.

Colleges rely more on federal money, especially on grants and loans the government gives students to pay their tuition.

Trump’s most powerful tool to put school money on the line is his authority to enforce civil rights — the Department of Education has the power to cut federal funding for schools and colleagues who disobey civil rights laws.

The president cannot immediately revoke money from a large number of districts, but if he targets a few civil rights investigationsothers are likely to fall in line, said Bob Eitel, president of the conservative Institute for Defending Freedom and an education official during Trump’s first term. This authority could be used to prosecute schools and colleges that have diversity and inclusion offices or those accused of anti-SemitismEitel said.

“This is not a loss of funding on day one,” Eitel said, referring to Trump’s campaign promise. “But at the end of the day, the president is going to have his way on this issue, because I think there are some real legal issues.”

Trump also hinted at potential legislation to fulfill some of his promises, including fining universities over diversity initiatives.

To get colleges to shut down diversity programs — which Trump says are discriminatory — he said he would “advance a measure to fine them up to the full amount of their endowment.”

His platform also calls for a new, free, online university called the American Academy to be paid for by “taxing, fining and suing excessively large private university endowments.”

During his first term, Trump occasionally threatened to cut money from schools that defied him, including those slowly reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic and colleges he accused. limiting freedom of expression.

Most of the threats came to nothing, though he managed to get Congress to add a tax on wealthy college endowments, and his Department of Education made sweeping changes to the rules around it. sexual assault on campus.

Universities hope their relationship with the administration will not be as antagonistic as Trump’s rhetoric suggests.

“Education has been an easy target during the campaign season,” said Peter McDonough, general counsel for the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents. “But a partnership between higher education and administration will be better for the country than an attack on education.”

Trump’s threats of severe punishment seem to contradict another pillar of his education — getting the federal government out of schools. In closing the Education Department, Trump said he would return “all educational work and needs back to the states.”

“We will end education in Washington, DC,” Trump said on his website last year. In his platform, he pledged to ensure that schools are “free from political interference.”

Instead of letting states and schools decide where they stand on polarizing issues, Trump is proposing blanket bans that align with his vision.

Taking a neutral stance and letting states decide would not fulfill Trump’s campaign promises, said Max Eden, a senior fellow at AEI, a conservative think tank. For example, Trump plans to roll back guidance from President Joe Biden’s administration expanded Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students. And Trump would go further, promising a nationwide ban on transgender women in women’s sports.

“Trump tried to take boys out of girls’ sports. He didn’t run to let boys play girls sports in blue states if they want to,” Eden said.

Trump also wants a say in the school curriculum, vowing to fight for “patriotic” education. He promised to restore them 1776 Commissionwhich he created in 2021 to promote patriotic education. The panel produced a report that called progressivism a “challenge to American principles” alongside fascism.

Adding to that effort, Trump is proposing a new accrediting body to certify teachers “who embrace patriotic values.”