Public Education is Under Attack

These executive orders are out of control

Since being inaugurated last week, Trump has signed a lot of executive orders, ranging from discriminatory to dangerous to downright unconstitutional. And this Wednesday, he turned his pen to an issue we care about deeply here at Red Wine & Blue: public education.

The executive order, titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schools,” threatens to withhold federal funding for school that teach “Critical Race Theory” (by which he means any acknowledgement of racial inequalities in our past or present) or “gender ideology.” The order specifically threatens schools that provide trans students with counseling, allow them to use their preferred pronouns and names, or allow them to play on a sports team that reflects their gender identity.

Because heaven forbid we support students or teach them accurate history, right?

Groups like Lambda Legal are already calling the order unconstitutional. Trump also signed another executive order to tear down public education called “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families,” which seeks to use federal funding for private, faith-based or charter schools. You can learn more about school vouchers in our Cost of Extremism episode here.

It’s worth noting that Trump signed these sweeping orders before his Secretary of Education nominee, Linda McMahon, has even had her confirmation hearing. But like so many of his other executive orders, it’s still unclear what real-world effects this will have. Most public schools receive around 10% of their funding from the federal government, with the rest coming from state and local taxes. And states are already pushing back — California’s Department of Education just released this statement:

Hopefully more states and districts push back in the weeks to come. If you want to help, you can get involved at your local school board level like this week’s podcast guest Kristi. Or you can join a TroubleNation group in your area and band together with other concerned parents.

This is all overwhelming, but the memo from the CA Department of Education points out something very important: Trump can sign all the orders he wants, but it doesn’t change federal law. The emperor has no clothes, and it’s up to us to keep pointing it out.