President Donald Trump has issued several executive actions aimed at reforming public education in the United States, including one that targets transgender ideology, keeping a promise he made after winning the 2024 election.
“We will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the [expletive] out of our schools, and we’re going to get it out of our schools very fast,” he said during a Dec. 22, 2024, rally in Arizona.
Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, issued a statement in support of the executive order after it was signed.
“As PDE’s recent polling shows, opposition to progressives’ gender ideology spans both racial and political lines - and indeed, it was one of the issues that propelled President Trump to the White House,” the statement read.
“We ... look forward to the Department of Education putting in place policies and procedures that provide clarity to schools and families alike.”
Biden’s executive orders on “advancing educational equity, excellence, and economic opportunities” for Hispanics, Native Americans, and black Americans were rescinded by Trump, as was a separate executive action from the prior president that initiated the same advancements for “Hispanic-serving institutions.”
Trump also ordered the heads of all federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education, to take immediate steps to end the federal implementation of “unlawful and radical DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) ideology.”