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Through executive orders and press releases, the contours of how President Donald Trump’s administration will shape education are becoming clear just one week in.
The administration has recently taken additional actions on Title IX, book bans, and ending what the administration calls indoctrination.
EdNC’s reporting in week one
Title IX
On Jan. 31, the U.S. Department of Education sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to K-12 schools and institutions of higher education advising educators and administrators that the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will enforce the Trump administration’s 2020 Title IX Rule, according to this press release.
In 2024, the Biden administration’s rewrite of Title IX was challenged in court. The rewrite offered protections against discrimination related to sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics while clarifying protections against pregnancy-related discrimination.
The press release says, “In light of these federal court decisions and President Trump’s Defending Women Executive Order, the binding regulatory framework for Title IX enforcement includes the principles and provisions of the 2020 Title IX Rule and the longstanding Title IX regulations outlined in 34 C.F.R. 106 et seq., but excludes the vacated 2024 Title IX Rule. Accordingly, open Title IX investigations initiated under the 2024 Title IX Rule should be immediately reoriented to comport fully with the requirements of the 2020 Title IX Rule.”
The press release links to these resources on the 2020 Title IX Rule now in effect.
“The department will return to enforcing Title IX protections on the basis of biological sex in schools and on campuses,” says the press release.
Book bans
On Jan. 24, OCR announced that it had dismissed 11 complaints and other pending allegations related to book bans, according to this press release.
OCR said it will no longer employ a book ban coordinator to investigate local school districts and parents “working to protect students from obscene content.”
“The department adheres to the deeply rooted American principle that local control over public education best allows parents and teachers alike to assess the educational needs of their children and communities. Parents and school boards have broad discretion to fulfill that important responsibility. These decisions will no longer be second-guessed by the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor.
The press release said a review of the complaints and allegations led OCR to determine that “school districts, in consultation with parents and community stakeholders, have established commonsense processes by which to evaluate and remove age-inappropriate materials. Because this is a question of parental and community judgment, not civil rights, OCR has no role in these matters.”
Indoctrination
On Jan. 29, President Donald Trump issued this presidential action, titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.”
The executive order outlines the following to end what it calls indoctrination:
Sec. 3. Ending Indoctrination Strategy. (a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, to advise the President in formulating future policy, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall provide an Ending Indoctrination Strategy to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, containing recommendations and a plan for:
(i) eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology; and
(ii) protecting parental rights, pursuant to FERPA, 20 U.S.C. 1232g, and the PPRA, 20 U.S.C. 1232h, with respect to any K-12 policies or conduct implicated by the purpose and policy of this order.
(b) The Ending Indoctrination Strategy submitted under subsection (a) of this section shall contain a summary and analysis of the following:
(i) All Federal funding sources and streams, including grants or contracts, that directly or indirectly support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology:
(A) in K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs, or activities; or
(B) in K-12 teacher education, certification, licensing, employment, or training;
(ii) Each agency’s process to prevent or rescind Federal funds, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, from being used by an ESA, SEA, LEA, elementary school, or secondary school to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology in:
(A) K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs, or activities; or
(B) K-12 teacher certification, licensing, employment, or training;
(iii) Each agency’s process to prevent or rescind Federal funds, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, from being used by an ESA, SEA, LEA, elementary school, or secondary school to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the social transition of a minor student, including through school staff or teachers or through deliberately concealing the minor’s social transition from the minor’s parents.
(iv) Each agency’s process to prevent or rescind Federal funds, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, from being used by an ESA, SEA, LEA, elementary school, or secondary school to directly or indirectly support or subsidize:
(A) interference with a parent’s Federal statutory right to information regarding school curriculum, records, physical examinations, surveys, and other matters under the PPRA or FERPA; or
(B) a violation of Title VI or Title IX; and
(v) A summary and analysis of all relevant agency enforcement tools to advance the policies of this order.
(c) The Attorney General shall coordinate with State attorneys general and local district attorneys in their efforts to enforce the law and file appropriate actions against K-12 teachers and school officials who violate the law by:
(i) sexually exploiting minors;
(ii) unlawfully practicing medicine by offering diagnoses and treatment without the requisite license; or
(iii) otherwise unlawfully facilitating the social transition of a minor student.
(d) The Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy shall regularly convene the heads of the agencies tasked with submitting the Ending Indoctrination Strategy under subsection (a) of this section to confer regarding their findings, areas for additional investigation, the modification or implementation of their respective recommendations, and such other policy initiatives or matters as the President may direct.
Recently, Caldwell County Schools Superintendent Don Phipps said at a convening: “I always get pushback by some folks in the community who think we’re indoctrinating students. We’re just trying to teach students to have a strong well-being and be able to exist in the world that they’re going to live in. There’s not a political side to it at all, we’re just taking care of children.”
