President Donald Trump signed executive orders Wednesday that prioritize school choice funding and seek to end what the administration sees as “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling,” Louisiana Illuminator reports.
Trump is carrying through on education-related campaign promises he made as part of his sweeping vision to “save American education.” The efforts mark the latest in a deluge of wide-ranging executive orders the president began signing since he took office last week.
One executive order directs the U.S. Education Department secretary “to issue guidance regarding how states can use federal formula funds” to support K-12 school choice initiatives within the next two months.
The order also directs the education secretary to “include education freedom as a priority in discretionary grant programs, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.”
Trump is also tasking the Department of Health and Human Services with issuing guidance on how states receiving block grants “can use them to expand educational choice and support families who choose educational alternatives to governmental entities, including private and faith-based options.”
Expanding school choice has been growing traction lately among legislators. Republican Senators Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, and Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, along with two dozen Republican colleagues, recently introduced the Educational Choice for Children Act in an effort to expand educational freedom and opportunity for students.
The legislation provides a charitable donation incentive for individuals and businesses to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 public and private education.
