(The Lion) — School choice efforts are picking up across the country as President Trump on Tuesday is celebrating his first 100 days of his second term in office.
“In his first 100 days, President Trump has consistently voiced his support for school choice, emphasizing a desire to return power to the states – and ultimately to parents – to determine the best educational opportunities for their children,” Denisha Allen, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, told The Lion.
“Across the country, we see on every level momentum and energy around this issue.”
The Trump administration has shown its support for school choice by celebrating National School Choice Week and investigating states that allegedly violated a law that protects parents’ rights to access their students’ education data, the Education Department said in a memo on its first 100 days.
The department also touted its new “End DEI” portal, its reversal of a Biden-Harris “reporting scheme that burdened states and local Career and Technical Education programs to comply with unnecessary reporting requirements,” as well as its reining in of the federal government’s interference in state charter school programs.
The department said these actions, among others, have advanced “President Trump’s goal to return education to states” by empowering parents and dismantling the federal education bureaucracy.
“Right away Trump got back to the Oval Office and started working on education reform and school choice, saying very early in his second term as president that he ‘believed strongly in school choice,’” Allen said.
“Under his leadership the Senate ensured the smooth confirmation of Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education and they got to work right away on his vision.”
Trump has said he wants McMahon to “put herself out of a job,” and signed an executive order to dismantle the Education Department. McMahon has repeatedly acknowledged she would need congressional approval to fully shut down the federal agency.
Allen credited Trump with publicly supporting “school choice expansion at the state level, including Tennessee, Idaho and the massive new expansion in Texas.”
As national school choice momentum has trickled down to the states, she said there is excitement among school leaders, education entrepreneurs and parents as they have more education options.
Allen said she is “excited about this momentum” and hopes Congress will pass the Education Choice for Children Act, which Trump has indicated he would sign. The proposed legislation would incentivize charitable donations to K-12 scholarship organizations through tax credits.
As the Trump administration moves past its first 100 days, it has faced criticism from opponents including teachers union boss Randi Weingarten, who called his agenda “reckless” and said he has been “attacking public schools.”
Other groups, such as the Heritage Foundation, have praised Trump for returning education to the state level, reducing the Education Department’s workforce and freezing federal funding for schools that are failing to combat antisemitism.
