Donald Trump’s re-election as president includes changes to the education system, as outlined in his campaign manifesto, known as Agenda 47, with these changes affecting many aspects of the education system.
Efforts by Republican governors to crack down on the open expression of LGBTQ+ students are likely to be encouraged, with the agenda stating a plan to instruct the Department of Education to reverse any guidelines “that promote the concept of sex and gender transition.” These guidelines instruct schools to respect transgender students’ chosen pronouns, bathroom usage and names.
Trump will also try to shut down the Department of Education as a whole, giving all educational say back to the states. This could lead to the end of the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) program, with the Department of Education currently managing it. Around 70 percent of college undergraduates receive some aid from the program, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and without the program, many of these students would not be able to attend college.
Another key component of Agenda 47 involves changing how certain jobs in education are run, such as by removing teacher tenure, which would make it easier for teachers to be fired for smaller offenses, and by adopting a merit based pay system for teachers.
“As far as removing tenure, that takes away a lot of job security, and it’s really hard to get teachers as it is, so I don’t think that doing something that would make it even less sellable would be a wise choice,” English teacher Nicole Norona said. “As far as merit based pay, it doesn’t really work because teachers are only 50 percent of the learning process, the other 50 percent are the students, and so it would mean that teachers who taught students that struggled more would be making less than teachers who teach students who are traditionally better able to learn.”
Additionally, Trump supports the direct election of principals by the parents.
“It could be good and bad at the same time, depending on the parents,” freshman Joanna Romeo said. “It could be good if they’re voting for a principal that would be inclusive, or it could be worse if they’re voting for somebody who specifically would ban stuff that supports LGBTQ+, and showing more history, for example Black history, Hispanic history.”
The motivation for these policies comes from a belief that many schools have overreached in recent years in attempts to be more LGBTQ+ friendly and in other more left wing initiatives, with many conservatives opposing what they claim are “equity policies” that have harmed educational quality. Trump’s campaign website lists combating these as a major reason in developing the proposals discussed above.
“I’ve seen videos and Instagrams stories where they have drag queens showing up to preschools and reading them picture books, with some of the pictures not suitable for the kids’ age,” junior Alexey Bass said. “I definitely believe things will start to improve under President Trump.”
Trump wants to correct for the past embrace of these policies, believing that Congress should compensate those “unjustly discriminated against” by them.
He also wants to encourage patriotism in American schools, planning to reinstate the 1776 Commission, an advisory board he established during his first term that sought to combat tellings of American history that “vilified the Founders.” The commission’s report outlined steps to promote a positive image of American history.
In addition to Trump’s aforementioned agenda, he has also proposed some policies that intend to make schools more secure, such as encouraging school districts to allow teachers to carry guns, and hiring armed school guards from the community.