One way to bring in more school choice and change curricula is to let loose the newly formed parent groups on the right to challenge problematic policies and bring lawsuits where needed.


more-streamlined FAFSA application for student loans and grants. The new application was


so late that it destroyed the college admissions process for thousands of students


whose decisions depend on how much aid a particular university is offering them. Decisions about college atten- dance took all summer. The only real K-12 programs that the Department of Education runs are Title 1 block grants to low-income districts and special education grants. The GOP has supported these pro-


grams, even in a vote last year that would have merely turned them to vouchers.


6 Immediate Fixes It is time for the new U.S. Secretary


of Education, Linda McMahon, to go back to basics.


judge struck down the Biden adminis- tration’s expansion of Title IX protec- tions to transgender students, which prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. The judge ruled the U.S. Education Department had overstepped. His deci- sion means only biological women can play on women’s teams and use female facilities.


1


itation, which affects whether student loans can be used to pay for education. And withhold other money. Research


2


funding, federal grants, and aid should be withheld from universities that are


To deal with the radical antisemi- tism on campuses, threaten uni- versities with withholding accred-


The first fix was accomplished in the final days before Trump took office in January, when a federal


allowing Jewish students to be kept from attending classes. Also, initiate civil rights suits against universities that allow antisemitism to flourish, as you would with racism. Send pro-Hamas activist foreign stu- dents home.


3


Colleges are required to report money donated by hostile foreign countries, though many simply


don’t. Force compliance and public release of the numbers. How? Again, withhold federal


money, and sue. This will have the added benefit of cutting back the num- ber of students from such places who spy on U.S. research, as many Chi- nese students are enlisted to do, or who aggressively support terrorism, as many from Qatar have done.


4


Despite the Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that


outlaws affirmative action and racial considerations in college acceptances, some schools have continued to use race-based admissions. Civil rights lawsuits on the grounds of racism could change things.


5 6


When it comes to DEI, influ- ence the accreditation systems to reject schools that have incor-


porated too much of it into hiring and teaching. Make DEI taboo. Withdraw all Education Department funding for hiring and curriculum.


In K-12, the most important thing the new administration can do is to promote school choice.


Jonathan Butcher, Will Skillman


senior research fellow in education policy at The Heritage Foundation, believes that after shutting down the


Education Department, the next criti- cal item to get education back on track is to promote school choice, including charter schools. That would lead to raised perfor-


mance and scores in reading and math, and to less CRT and DEI in the curricu- la. Currently, more than 30 states have some form of school choice. Nearly all have charter schools, which generally outperform regular public schools. One way to bring in more school


choice and change curricula is to let loose the newly formed parent groups on the right to challenge problemat- ic policies and bring lawsuits where needed. These groups are dedicated and fierce. Max Eden, a senior fellow at AEI,


wrote in The Wall Street Journal in December that Trump can tell local American schools what they can teach about gender transitions. He suggests that “Tatel v. Mt. Lebanon School Dis- trict, a recent decision by a federal district court in Pennsylvania, should be required reading for members of his administration.” The decision stopped a first-grade


teacher from teaching that boys can be girls and girls can be boys. Angry parents had sued under the First and 14th Amendments. “The judge held that forcing these


concepts on children undermined the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. Many religions teach that God created us male and female. Pro- moting a scientifically baseless claim undermining that doctrine without parental consent infringes on religious liberty,” Eden explained. The Trump Education Department


should circulate a letter explaining this decision, threatening lawsuits if pri- mary schools don’t stop teaching this ideology.


FEBRUARY 2025 | NEWSMAX 33


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