Hello everyone,
In a recent Capitol Comment column, ATPE federal consultant/lobbyist David Pore warns that the Trump administration has issued a flood of executive actions in just its first 100 days-dramatically reshaping K-12 education without going through Congress.
During the 2024 campaign, President Trump distanced himself from "Project 2025," a far-right policy plan that proposed eliminating the Department of Education (DOE), block-granting Title I and IDEA funding, and banning DEI in schools. But since taking office in January, Trump has moved to implement many of those exact ideas through executive action. A new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has already cut the DOE workforce in half, and steps are being taken to shut the agency down entirely.
Other notable actions include:
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Ending federal support for DEI and LGBTQ+ inclusion in schools
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Reinterpreting Title IX to exclude protections for gender identity
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Expanding private school voucher programs
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Defunding grants and contracts that support federal education programs
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Prohibiting school COVID-19 vaccine mandates
While legal challenges are underway, schools and educators are being forced to adjust in real time, under threat of losing federal funds. Pore cautions educators to look past misleading EO titles and read the fine print. ATPE's Advocacy Central makes it easy to contact your lawmakers.
So how are these federal policy changes affecting your work as an educator?
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David George
Managing Editor
Association of Texas Professional Educators
atpe.org | atpenews.org
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