Former President Donald Trump, who has pledged to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, slash K-12 spending, and put public schools squarely in the crosshairs of culture warriors, is on the precipice of reclaiming the White House.
Conservative supporters of expanding school choice and parents鈥� rights groups such as Moms for Liberty are likely to cheer his ascendency. Civil rights advocates have warned for months that a second Trump term would decimate federal protections for LGBTQ+ students, students of color, and students from low-income backgrounds.
Big questions loom over just how much Trump, who would be only the second president in U.S. history to be elected to non-consecutive terms, can actually get done on K-12 this time around.
And a major factor in determining his education agenda鈥攁nd what he accomplishes鈥攊s the person he chooses to serve as secretary of education.
Trump鈥檚 chances of notching significant wins on education鈥攐r any policy鈥攚ill depend in part on which party controls Congress. Republicans were projected early Wednesday morning to reclaim control of the U.S. Senate, according to AP. But it was too soon to know which party would control the U.S. House of Representatives.
In his first term, Trump didn鈥檛 put much attention or political muscle behind his sweeping conservative wish list of a K-12 agenda, allowing much of it to sputter.
A pitch to combine the departments of education and labor made quick headlines, then vanished into a political blackhole. A Republican-controlled Congress rejected Trump鈥檚 proposals to slash the Education Department鈥檚 budget by as much as 13 percent and eliminate popular programs. A proposed expansion of school choice at the federal level鈥攊n the form of a federal tax credit scholarship program鈥�never gained legislative momentum.
Still, Trump, and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, successfully rolled back major initiatives from Barack Obama鈥檚 presidency aimed at helping certain groups of students including transgender kids and students of color.
Early in 2017,鈥�DeVos rescinded Obama鈥檚 Title IX guidance on the rights of transgender students, which required schools to allow students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
And the Trump administration tossed Obama guidance aimed at ensuring schools don鈥檛 unfairly discipline students of color, who face suspensions and other consequences at rates higher than their peers.
Trump鈥檚 fans and critics alike expect that one of his first targets this time around will be President Joe Biden鈥檚 Title IX regulation, which鈥�expands the scope of the law鈥檚 prohibition on sex discrimination so it also applies to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The new regulation is already on hold in 26 states and individual schools elsewhere as the result of litigation from Republican-led states.
Since leaving office in 2020, Trump has aligned himself with parent activists focused on fighting what they describe as 鈥渨oke indoctrination鈥� in public schools. He鈥檚 pitched K-12 policies that even some of his staunchest supporters find unworkable, such as allowing parents to directly elect their schools鈥� principals.
He鈥檚 pledged to cut federal funding to schools that teach critical race theory. (There鈥檚 no evidence that teaching critical race theory, an academic framework generally taught at the university level, is widely prevalent in K-12 schools.)
But beyond that, Trump barely mentioned education on the campaign trail.
In fact, at a campaign stop at Milwaukee鈥檚 Discovery World Science Museum last month during which he was expected to showcase his support for school choice, Trump instead meandered through a range of other topics for more than half an hour before turning to K-12 policy, .
When he did turn to K-12 policy, he hit longtime talking points, criticizing schools for spending too much money while churning out graduates woefully unprepared for the workforce.
鈥淲e spend more money on education than any other country in the world, and I said before, much more money per pupil,鈥� Trump said at the Milwaukee event. 鈥淲e鈥檙e number one on every list. And yet our public schools get worse, and the results get worse. They graduate from public school, they can鈥檛 read, they can鈥檛 write.鈥� (The United States ranked fifth highest in spending per student among about three dozen developed countries, .)
Trump also stumped for school choice without getting into the policy weeds.
鈥淚 believe that school choice is the civil rights issue of our time,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淎 child鈥檚 fate should be 鈥� determined by their love of education, by their parents, by so many factors, but it can鈥檛 be determined by a ZIP code. And no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing, government-run school.鈥�
And he reiterated his call to abolish the education department鈥攐r at least significantly limit its authority鈥攅ven though that鈥檚 proved virtually impossible to pull off politically.
鈥淲e will have one person plus a secretary, and all the person has to do is, [ask schools] are you teaching English?,鈥� Trump said in Milwaukee. 鈥淎re you teaching arithmetic? What are you doing? 69传媒, writing and arithmetic, and are you not teaching woke? Not teaching woke is a very big factor, but we鈥檒l have a very small staff.鈥�
It鈥檚 unlikely that Trump will tap DeVos to serve as his education secretary again. DeVos resigned from Trump鈥檚 cabinet in a, in which she blamed Trump鈥檚 rhetoric in part for inciting the violent insurrection on the U.S. Capitol the previous day.
Republicans in Washington who work on education issues have floated Cade Brumley, Louisiana鈥檚 state superintendent of education; Ryan Walters, Oklahoma鈥檚 superintendent of public instruction; and Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, as possibilities to helm the education department.
