Now That Trump is Elected, what impact will it have on schools and education in the United States?

By Amelia Long, November 15th, 2024 

Trump has constantly threatened to discard of the US Department of Education. former president Donald Trump favors what is known as school choice, or privatization, and increasing government involvement in curriculum. Vice President Kamala Harris had supported programs to address inequity across early childhood, K-12, and higher education.  

Federal Education Spending                                      

It is probable that Trump’s administration will work towards abolishing the DoE (Department of Education) and granting more power to states in education opinions If he is elected. “We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing,” Trump said at a September rally in Wisconsin.  

The Title I funds for high-poverty schools and could possibly become blocked by Trump’s administration and let the states to use the money for however they choose with no-strings-attached grants and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which funds for persons with disabilities. Both acts have $34 billion collectively. 

“A big concern for me is that the kids who are already poorly served will fall further behind because there won’t be anything that requires states to use funding equitably…” States Gloria Ladson-Billing, a professor emerita of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

While Harris has previously advised for the increase of Title I fund, and to reach out to the Congress to fully fund IDEA to give school the resources for disabled student’s education. Harris had also promised to continue the Biden-Harris administration’s programs to push for universal preschool and to build on Biden-Harris administrations to forgive student dept. 

Project 2025 seeks to eliminate repayment-based forgiveness options; Trump disagrees with the act for student loan forgiveness, he attempted to end the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which forgives student debt for up to 10 years of the repayment for eligible professionals including teachers and nurses, during his first term. 

Public Schools Versus School Choice 

School’s choice is at the top of Trump’s list for here states are increasingly allowed to use public dollars for private education through vouchers and ESAs (Education Savings Accounts) which give parents public money for private school tuition, these programs reduce funding available for public school budgets. 

The two Supreme Courts stepped down by part in Trump’s three nominees to the court, increasing the flow of public funding to private schools by requiring vouchers programs to include religious schools.  

“At this point, the only way to ensure that vouchers do not fund religious education in a state is to not have vouchers at all,” says Bryan Mann, an education researcher at the University of Kansas. 

 Harris promotes opposing voucher programs and not allowing states to use public dollars to pay for religious education. 

In 2023 Minnesota governor, Tim Walz (her running vice president) disapproves of Iowa’s school choice programs. In an interview with the political news outlet Iowa Starting Line, he states: 

 “[What] we end up doing is subsidizing folks who are already attending private, religious schools ... or homeschooling. And it leaves our teachers ... in the short.” 

Voucher programs have been studied and have not shown signs of improving student’s achievements and can even impact it negatively.  

 Classroom censorship 

Trump has frequently criticized federal involvement in education, yet he has inconsistently asserted that the White House should control what schools can teach. His platform threatens civil right investigations and funding reductions for school that cover topics related to structural racism and LGBTQ+ identities. Additionally, he supports the integration of Christian teachings in classrooms, notably endorsing Louisiana’s new law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public-school classroom.