Adam Wittenberg | November 8, 2024
(The Lion) — School choice measures didn’t pass in three states Tuesday, but that may be irrelevant following Donald Trump’s election as president.
Trump, who won a decisive victory over Kamala Harris, has ambitious plans for education in his second term, including enacting federal school choice and possibly dismantling the Department of Education or dramatically reducing its size and influence.
Trump tried to enact various reforms during his first four years in the White House, including massive cuts to the DOE, but with little success. Now, with expected majorities in both the House and Senate, he is poised to change the educational landscape in this country.
“The difference between now and then is that he took office [in 2017] without a clear school choice plan,” Max Eden, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Education Week.
Eden noted a national school choice bill, the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2024, passed the House Ways & Means Committee in September. If enacted, it would establish a federal tax credit scholarship program similar to ones available in multiple states.
Republican majorities in Congress would mean the bill has a significant chance of passing.
“Most Republicans are prepared to vote for it, and President Trump has promised it, and so I don’t see a good reason why that wouldn’t happen,” Eden told Education Week.
Closing the Department of Education?
More than lip service, Trump may actually have the votes necessary to “close the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. and to send all education work and needs back to the States,” as stated in Agenda 47, his plans and promises for his new term.
Even if the department closes, Trump has promised to use federal mandates to prohibit teaching critical race theory, transgenderism and other “inappropriate racial, sexual or political content,” Agenda 47 says.
Instead, he would seek to restore prayer in schools as an expression of religious freedom; expand parental rights in education, including the ability of parents to directly elect their school’s principal; and place patriotism at the center of education with an emphasis on the “American Way of Life,” ABC News reports.
Power to Effect Change
Additionally, Trump wants to “create a credentialing body to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values and support the American Way of Life,” his website says, although news outlets point out it doesn’t offer specific details about what that entails.
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of schools, voiced support for Trump’s plans.
“I think you’re going to continue to see [Trump] find ways to ensure that our kids are not going to have critical race theory in their classroom,” Walters told Education Week. “We don’t want kids being told they’re racist or evil or inferior because of the color of their skin. … [Trump will] make sure that the American people know that when their kids go to school, they’re receiving an education, not being indoctrinated to hate this country.”
Walters, reportedly a potential education secretary, also praised Trump for having a well-defined plan and “one of the largest mandates in presidential history.
“He has put himself in a position to have the most effective education policy in the nation’s history, and it’s exciting to watch.”
This article was made available to EdNews Virginia via The Lion, a publication of the Herzog Foundation.