Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling

Federal executive orders regarding K-12 school policy inherently threaten federalism, because schools are primarily the domain of state and local governments. By directing federal agencies to halt the prior administration’s programs pushing race and gender identity ideologies into K-12 schools, however, this order is a win for federalism. The order also directs agencies to reassert authority granted by prior federal law to deny education dollars to school districts that block parents from viewing curricula, or which counsel their children without their knowledge. This is a power established by Congressional statute rather than federal agency fiat, and so is consistent with the federalist arrangement.

Similarly, in addition to re-establishing the 1776 Commission and requesting agency plans to celebrate the American Founding, the order directs renewed application of a 2004 federal statute requiring schools that received federal funds to provide “an educational program on the United States Constitution” every Constitution Day. It also calls for reinvigoration of federal programs that provide civics and history resources to schoolteachers.

 What to watch: Federal agencies are asked to identify funds that either “directly or indirectly support or subsidize” the disapproved activities, which some may interpret as a license to revoke all federal funds from school systems that use non-federal funds to pursue them. Further, the order asks the U.S. Attorney General to “coordinate” with state and local law enforcement in efforts to prosecute teachers and administrators for, among other things, sexual exploitation of minors and/or unlawful practice of medicine depending on how they engage with students on questions of gender transition. Given that these are traditionally matters for state and local authorities, it’s unclear what federal coordination will mean in practice.

Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling – The White House

January 29, 2025