President Trump Is Wasting No Time Reforming K-12 Education

President Donald Trump hit the ground running, reforming K-12 education and restoring parental rights during his second week back in the Oval Office, which coincided with the 15th annual National School Choice Week.

Last week, President Trump issued the “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families” executive order. According to a White House fact sheet, the order “recognizes that parents, not the government, play a fundamental role in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.”

The executive order states that within 60 days, “the Secretary of Education shall issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives.” It also “directs the Secretary of Education to prioritize school choice programs in the Department’s discretionary grant programs.”

Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services must issue guidance related to “how states receiving block grants for children and families can use those funds to support educational alternatives, including private and faith-based options.”

Furthermore, the executive order requires the Secretary of Defense to review and make a plan for how military families “may use funds from the Department of Defense to attend schools of their choice … beginning in the 2025-2026 school year.” Finally, the Secretary of the Interior must submit a plan concerning “how families with students attending Bureau of Indian Education schools can use federal funds to send their children to the school of their choice.”

With clarity and resolve, the President communicated: “It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.”

The timing couldn’t have been more fitting as it was the same day the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam scores were released. The scores revealed that 7 out of 10 schoolchildren cannot read on grade level. Math scores showed that 6 out of 10 fourth-grade students and 7 out of 10 eighth-grade students are not proficient for their grade. These scores make an undeniable case for school choice.

Also, on Wednesday, the President issued the “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” executive order. The order stated that “In recent years … parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight.”

The Secretary of Education, Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, consulting with the Attorney General, have 90 days to formulate an “Ending Indoctrination Strategy.” It will include a plan for “eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology; and protecting parental rights.”

The historic week also included the Trump Administration U.S. Department of Education issuing a press release stating that it “will return to enforcing Title IX protections on the basis of biological sex in school and on campuses.” This was a necessary measure as the Biden Administration’s rule had redefined the term sex to include ‘gender identity,’ therefore removing protection and equal opportunity for women.

The week prior, under the direction of the President, the U.S. Department of Education took action to “eliminate harmful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.” More specifically, “The agency said staff leading DEI initiatives have been placed on administrative leave, and over 200 web pages with DEI resources that ‘promote or endorse harmful ideological programs’ have been deleted. It also killed over $2.5 million of DEI contracts.”

President Trump is far from alone in the charge to reform education and empower parents with educational choice for their children. At the state level, last week, the Tennessee House and Senate passed the Education Freedom Act of 2025. With Gov. Bill Lee’s signature, Tennessee will become the 13th state in the nation to enact universal (or near-universal) school choice, joining Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia.

At the federal level, last week, Senators Bill Cassidy and Tim Scott, along with 24 Republican colleagues, introduced The Educational Choice for Children Act. The bill “would provide $10 billion in annual tax credits for individuals and businesses to fund K-12 scholarships.” If passed, roughly 2 million children across the country will have access to scholarship funds for private school tuition and fees, and other educational expenses, including homeschooling.

According to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a briefing on Friday, President Trump communicated that “American education should focus on cultivating patriotic citizens who are ready for the workforce.” The President is not only right, but his executive orders last week to empower parental choice and end radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling are essential and foundational steps in the right direction.

More of these swift and sound common-sense measures are needed and undoubtedly on the way from this Administration.

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Dr. Keri D. Ingraham is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.