From New York Times, 1/29/25:
Trump orders schools to adopt ‘patriotic education’ in the classroom
President Trump signed several executive orders on Wednesday aimed at reshaping American schools, including restricting how racism is taught in classrooms, curbing antisemitism and allowing taxpayer dollars to fund private schools.
The orders are designed to advance the Trump administration’s goal of shaking up the nation’s education system, which Mr. Trump has long derided as fostering left-leaning ideologies.
One of the orders, titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” sought to withhold funding from any schools that teach that the United States is “fundamentally racist, sexist or otherwise discriminatory.” It directed agencies to produce an “ending indoctrination strategy” that would focus on uprooting instruction about transgender issues, “white privilege” or “unconscious bias” in schools, and to “prioritize federal resources, consistent with applicable law, to promote patriotic education.”
Another laid the foundations to deport international students accused of “antisemitic harassment and violence” in connection to protests over the war in Gaza, part of a wider crackdown on what the administration has deemed antisemitic speech.
And a third directed agencies to search for grants and discretionary programs that could be repurposed for use by states to fund voucher programs. Such programs allocate public funds to families to pay for children's education at home or at private and religious schools.
The orders on Wednesday unleashed the Education Department to enforce penalties against schools that stray from the themes of “patriotic education” that Mr. Trump has said should be the underpinning of American history classes. And they appeared designed to send schools scrambling to check course catalogs for any content that could invite the government to rescind federal funds.
The order related to antisemitism was broad and enlisted many federal agencies in an effort to identify and punish demonstrators who caused disruptions amid nationwide protests against Israel and the war in Gaza — a group that could include students involved in campus protests.
It directed the State Department, Education Department and Homeland Security Department to guide colleges to “report activities by alien students and staff” that could be considered antisemitic, so that they could be investigated or deported.