On Wednesday afternoon, President Trump signed an executive order to direct as many federal educational funds as possible toward promoting school choice.
The significant policy change will enhance parental options in education funding.
According to NBC News, the extensive order is anticipated to affect multiple departments:
The Department of Health and Human Services would be directed to issue guidance that explains how states receiving block grants for families and children can use that money for faith-based and private institutions, the official said.
It would also direct Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to present a plan to Trump on how military families can use department funds to send their children to schools of their choosing, and it would direct the interior secretary to submit a plan on how students at Bureau of Indian Education schools can take advantage of federal funds for school choice.
CBS News first reported that Trump was expected to sign the order.
Frederick Hess, the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank, said the move is “clearly a stark shift in emphasis for Washington.”
“Given the dismal results on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, released today, I’m pleased to see the administration doing what it can to ensure families have access to more and better choices,” Hess commented. “While there are significant limits to what’s possible, given statutory constraints and Washington’s modest role in K-12 schooling, it’s notable that the administration is doing what it can to extend the parental choice rather than stymie it—a pattern that was all too familiar during the past four years.”
The order is part of Trump’s ongoing advocacy for school choice, which he has emphasized as crucial since his campaign, aiming to provide education freedom by supporting various schooling models including public, charter, private schools and homeschooling.
The policy shift comes at a time when national education assessments have shown declining proficiency levels in reading and math among students, highlighting the urgency for educational reform and alternatives to traditional public schooling.
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I find perhaps the biggest obstacle to school choice are property taxes. 2/3 of our property taxes goes for public education, and the taxes are very high. There is little left over for private school expenses. I have advocated for 30 years to shift public education funding to a separate income tax and/or parents who send their kids to private schools should get a tax break of what they pay for private schools up to the amount they would have paid for public schools.
Long overdue.
So if you choose a school that’s already full, you’re out of luck right? And what good is that ? Better to staff all schools so they would be chosen and get rid of ineffective administrators that waste school funding on know-it-al consultants.
If funding follows the student, good schools won’t be full, because they will have the funds to accommodate the demand.
The MOST efficient way t get rid of ineffective administrators is competition.
And fix the insane woke curriculum. Keeping pornography out of school libraries is NOT “book burning”. You can get all the gay porn you want, but don’t expose kids. Maybe expose them to honest math, science, and history.
I completely agree with you! Quit teaching kids how to perform fellatio among other even more disgusting things. Our kids need reading, math and science not pornography and sexualizing them in elementary school. They learn that garbage far too quickly with our movies, TV, and literature are all being poisoned by the woke!