On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on education, one to remove federal funding from K-12 schools that teach critical race theory (CRT), and another to support school choice.
Trump’s executive order on CRT, "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling," reads, "Parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight."
It goes on to say that "Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination. In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics."
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The executive order states that any K-12 school that does not comply with the directive to end discrimination will lose all federal funding, citing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination over race, color, and national origin for any activity or program receiving federal funding.
Trump’s executive order on school choice, "Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families," cites the National Assessment of Educational Progress Report Card, highlighting that "70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math."
"When our public education system fails such a large segment of society, it hinders our national competitiveness and devastates families and communities," the executive order reads. "For this reason, more than a dozen States have enacted universal K-12 scholarship programs, allowing families — rather than the government — to choose the best educational setting for their children."
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Among other actions, it also directs the Secretary of Education, within 60 days of the order, to "issue guidance regarding how States can use Federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives," as well as directs the Secretaries of Labor and Education, within 90 days of the executive order, to propose plans to use grant programs to further educational choice.
"President Trump just showed the American people why he won the parent vote by 9 points," Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Culture Project and executive director of the Educational Freedom Institute, told Fox News Digital. "Parents want to be able to direct the upbringing of their children. Parents need to be in charge of their children’s education, not the government."
Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of Teachers, voiced her concern about the educational freedom executive order in a Wednesday press release, saying, "Americans of all political stripes want safe and welcoming public schools where kids are engaged and have the knowledge and skills to thrive in careers, college and life. This plan is a direct attack on all that parents and families hold dear; it’s a ham-fisted, recycled and likely illegal scheme to diminish choice and deny classrooms resources to pay for tax cuts for billionaires."