WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s return to the presidency could set the stage for sweeping changes in US education policy.

Throughout his campaign, Trump promised to “save American education,” with an emphasis on parental rights and universal school choice — providing a stark contrast to the education record of the Biden administration.

With Trump’s victory in the White House cemented, here’s a look at where he stands on education:

Get rid of the US Department of Education

Perhaps Trump’s broadest plan for education includes his vow to close the U.S. Department of Education.

The department – ​​only 45 years old – is not responsible for setting school curriculum because education is decentralized in the United States. The agency mission is to “promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by promoting educational excellence and ensuring equal access”.

Trump has repeatedly called for moving education “back to the states,” even though the responsibility for education already rests primarily with states and local governments, which allocate much of the funding for K-12 schools.

Increasing funding

Trump has proposed funding increases for states and school districts that adhere to his vision for education, including enacting a “Parental Bill of Rights that includes full curriculum transparency and some form of universal school choice.” according to his plan.

He also wants to give funding preferences to schools that get rid of “teacher tenure” for grades K-12 and adopt “merit pay.”

He could also increase funding for schools that have parents hold direct elections of principals, as well as schools that significantly reduce the number of administrators.

Trump’s plan also includes creating an accrediting body to certify teachers “who embrace patriotic values ​​and understand that their job is not to indoctrinate children, but to educate them.”

He is also threatens to cut federal funding for schools that teach “critical race theory” or “gender ideology” and vowed to roll back updated Title IX regulations under the Biden administration on his first day back in office.

The updated regulations, which the Biden administration released earlier this year, expand federal protections for LGBTQ+ students.

The final rule reverses changes to Title IX made under the previous Trump administration and then Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

A slew of GOP-led states challenged the measure, leading to several legal battles and a political patchwork across the country.

Student debt and higher education

Trump has criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to forgive student loans, describing them as “not even legal” and may abandon any mass student loan forgiveness efforts.

Trump could repeal the administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan, which is currently on hold while tied to a legal challenge. The broad initiative aims to offer lower monthly loan payments and reduce the time it takes to pay off debt.

Meanwhile, GOP 2024 platform called for colleges and universities to be “healthy and affordable,” noting that Republicans “will fire far-left accreditors, lower tuition costs, restore due process protections, and pursue civil rights cases against schools that discriminate.”

The platform also calls for reducing the cost of higher education by creating “additional, drastically more affordable alternatives to a traditional four-year degree.”

trump card also proposed The “American Academy,” a free online university he says would be funded by “the billions and billions of dollars that we’re going to collect by taxing, fining, and suing the excessively large private university endowments.”

Project 2025

In addition to the GOP platform and Trump’s proposals, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 proposes a broad conservative agenda that, if implemented, could have major implications for the future of education.

Although Trump disavowed the conservative think tank’s project, some former members of his previous administration helped craft the agenda.

Some of the educational policy proposals presented in the extensive document they include eliminating the U.S. Department of Education and Head Start, ending time- and occupation-based student loan forgiveness, and restoring Title IX regulations made under DeVos.

The proposal also states that “the federal government should limit its involvement in education policy to that of a statistics-gathering agency that disseminates information to the states.”

Major teachers’ unions react to Trump’s victory

“The voters have spoken. While we hoped and fought for a different outcome, we respect both their will and the peaceful transfer of power,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation’s largest teachers unions, said in a statement. from Wednesday.

“Right now, the country is more divided than ever and our democracy is at risk. Last night, we saw fear and anger win,” Weingarten said.

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest union, said in a statement Wednesday that “it’s not the outcome we campaigned for, nor the future we wanted for our students and families, it’s the way through history. now we must travel.”

Last updated 2:38 pm, November 6, 2024