Trump Directive Gives Military Families New Reason to Celebrate National School Choice Week

Two welcome changes from the new White House in its first weeks is the turn away from DEI in education and a fresh look at school choice.

A great example is President Donald Trump’s executive order Wednesday on education choice for military families, just in time for National School Choice Week (Jan. 26 through Feb. 1).

The order directs new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to allow service members to choose schools for their students, including private and religious schools. The order also directs the secretary of the Interior Department to create an education choice program for students in Bureau of Indian Education schools and for the Education Secretary to issue guidance to states that considers “education freedom as a priority in discretionary grant programs.”

Veterans serving in Congress have drafted proposals such as this in recent years for military families and suggested the use of Impact Aid, taxpayer funding for services for children of members of the military.

In 2018, then-Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a veteran who deployed to Afghanistan, introduced a proposal to offer Education Savings Accounts to children of service members. (Banks is now a senator.)

With an account, parents could use a portion of their child’s funding from Impact Aid to pay for education products and services, including textbooks and private school tuition.

The accounts would be similar to the options available to students in states such as Arizona and Florida, where families use accounts to either choose a new school or customize their students’ learning experience with an assortment of learning opportunities.

Surveys find that military families place a high value on education. A 2017 survey found that more than one-third—35%—of members of the military said dissatisfaction with their children’s education was or is a “significant factor” in deciding whether or not to remain in the military. Another survey found that 72% of service members, veterans, and their spouses were in favor of Education Savings Accounts.

Polling such as this is important today as officials continue to report difficulty in military recruiting. Attracting new service members is a regular challenge, but the figures have been stark in recent years as military leaders have missed their goals by thousands—and even lowered their recruiting goals in some cases.

School choice, then, is a military recruiting and retention issue, not just one of promoting student success.

Yet student achievement is still a crucial consideration. New results from the Nation’s Report Card find that students have not recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic-era education losses. The share of fourth and eighth graders who can read at grade level or above are at or near record lows dating back to 1992. Students scoring at the bottom of the achievement scale in reading saw the steepest declines.

Figures such as these help explain why, according to figures reported by The Associated Press, fewer than 1 in 4 young adults would be qualified for military service today without a waiver. Between dismal academic results and “moral behavior issues”—including “drug use, gang ties, or a criminal record”—many youths simply do not meet basic standards.

By calling attention to military needs and addressing long-standing issues in education and in military recruitment and retention, the White House has identified key national interests.

But the new order is also a sharp policy decision: Washington has clear authority over schools on military bases, as well as over the benefits for members of the military. The Trump administration is pairing its authority with proposals that have been widely popular across states.

Parental choice in education has seen extraordinary growth in many states over the past three years. State lawmakers have made private learning options available to all students in Florida, Arizona, West Virginia, and elsewhere.

Hegseth and Doug Burgum, nominated to be the next secretary of the Interior Department, should use the account-style education options from states as a model as they fulfill the president’s order.

National School Choice Week is celebrated each year to remind Americans that education choice is essential—and the new executive order means education opportunities are essential for both student achievement and national security.

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