President Trump at a campaign event in Milwaukee on Oct. 1.
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Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump today directed several government agencies to develop plans for redirecting federal funds in an effort to expand school choice.
“Parents want and deserve the best education for their children. But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school,” Trump said in the executive order.
He directed the secretaries of Labor and Education to review their discretionary grant programs and submit plans to “expand education freedom for America’s families and teachers.”
Trump ordered the Education Secretary, within 60 days, to issue guidance to states on how they can use federal funds to support school choice. The order also directs the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to submit a plan outlining how Defense Department funds can be used to allow military families to send their children to schools of their choice.
Among other things, the order also called for greater school choice in the Bureau of Indian Education, and for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to explore whether block grants for children and families can be redirected to “expand educational choice.”
The nation’s two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), condemned the executive action.
Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, told NPR she is “disappointed” that Trump was calling for such a broad repurposing of discretionary funds from government agencies toward private education.
“It’s a direct attack on all the parents and the families and the kids who actually go [public schools],” she said.
EdChoice, a group that supports the expansion of school choice, celebrated the move.
“President Trump’s executive order to prioritize and expand school choice programs is a crucial step toward empowering families and giving them greater control over their children’s education,” Robert Enlow, the President and CEO of EdChoice, wrote in a statement.
The Senate has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Trump’s education secretary nominee, Linda McMahon, the former WWE business executive. She expressed support for school choice earlier this month.
