Originally published June 30, 2023 8:00 pm PDT
In a major policy announcement, former President Donald Trump outlined his detailed plan to reform American education and “restore power to American parents,” while criticizing what he views as radical elements in the system.
“Our public schools have been taken over by the Radical Left maniacs,” Trump said. “Here is my plan to save American education and restore power to American parents.”
The proposal, presented via video message, includes a broad spectrum of education reforms, touching on federal funding, teacher credentialing, teacher tenure, and school choice.
One of Trump’s primary objectives is to “cut federal funding for any school or program pushing Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children.”
Trump argues that such content is inappropriate for the classroom.
In addition, the plan addresses discrimination issues, with the Trump administration planning to “[d]irect the Departments of Justice and Education to open Civil Rights investigations into any school district that has engaged in race-based discrimination, including discrimination against Asian Americans.”
Moreover, Trump’s proposal raises questions about the teaching of Marxism in schools and its compatibility with Judeo-Christian values. Trump emphasized that his administration would “aggressively pursue potential violations of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution.”
He also took aim at the federal Department of Education, promising to “find and remove the radicals, zealots, and Marxists who have infiltrated” it.
He said: “Joe Biden has given these lunatics unchecked power—I will have them fired and escorted from the building.”
Other aspects of Trump’s education reform plan include protecting women’s sports, implementing merit pay for teachers, reducing the number of school administrators, creating a Parental Bill of Rights, and encouraging the direct election of school principals by parents.
“We will create a new credentialing body that will be the Gold Standard, anywhere in the world, to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values, support our way of life, and understand that their job is not to indoctrinate children, but very simply to educate them,” Trump said.
Touching on education spending, Trump highlighted that the U.S. “spends more per pupil than any nation in the world by double.”
However, he stated that with his plan, the country would “get [its] money’s worth,” adding, “We are going to change it around. We may spend the most, but we are going to be tops in education no matter where you go anywhere in the world.”
Overall, Trump’s plan is focused on shifting control over education from what he characterizes as a radicalized Department of Education to parents.
“When I am President, we will put PARENTS back in charge and give them the final say,” he concluded.
