On January 29, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families,” aimed at increasing school choice and expanding alternatives to K-12 public schools, including private, faith-based, and charter school options. President Trump also issued a fact sheet to accompany the EO.
Key Provisions
The EO directs the Department of Education to issue guidance within 60 days on how states can use federal funds to support K-12 scholarship programs that provide families with alternatives to public schools. The EO also directs the Department of Education to prioritize school choice programs in the Department’s discretionary grant programs. Relatedly, the EO directs the Department of Education and Department of Labor to review discretionary grant programs and develop a plan within 90 days to prioritize funding for school choice initiatives.
The EO requires the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance within 90 days on whether block grants for children and families can be used to support private and faith-based educational alternatives.
The EO directs the Department of Defense to assess and report within 90 days on ways that military-connected families can use federal education funds to attend private, faith-based, or charter schools starting in the 2025-26 school year. Similarly, the EO directs the Department of the Interior to review and explore within 90 days the mechanisms for families of students eligible for Bureau of Indian Education schools can use federal education funds to attend private, faith-based, or charter schools starting in the 2025-26 school year.
Application to Schools
This EO does not impose new legal obligations for schools. The reports that these agencies issue in accordance with the EO may result in expanded school choice programs.
Other Executive Orders
In light of the numerous and rapid executive orders being issued by the President, LCW recognizes the need for timely and reliable updates. LCW is now issuing a weekly roundup of new Presidential Executive Orders that may impact independent schools in California.
Executive Orders issued so far that may impact schools are:
For more information, please refer to the Special Bulletins linked above.
Additional Federal Updates
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has issued a Dear Colleague Letter reaffirming that discrimination based on race, color, or national origin is illegal under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The letter references the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which clarified that the use of racial preferences in college admissions is unlawful. It emphasizes that any consideration of race by educational institutions must meet “strict scrutiny,” being narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling interest, such as remedying specific past discrimination or addressing imminent safety risks. The letter states that “diversity,” recognized in earlier Supreme Court decisions as a compelling interest in educational settings, as well as “social justice” and “equity,” are not compelling interests.
The letter clarifies that the Department interprets the Court’s opinion to prohibit the use of race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life. The letter admonishes schools against using students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars, or other cues as a means of determining a student’s race and favoring or disfavoring such students, as well as against using non-racial information as a proxy for race. Educational institutions that receive federal financial assistance have until February 28, 2025 to comply with these standards or may risk losing their federal funding. More information can be found in LCW’s Week 2 Executive Order Roundup.
The U.S. Department of Education has initiated an investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) for permitting transgender athletes to participate in female sports teams, a practice that conflicts the Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports Executive Order, which is aimed at restricting such participation. CIF has stated its intention to continue following California state law, which allows transgender students to compete according to their gender identity, despite the federal directive.
In addition, in response to the Executive Order on Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, the Department of Justice issued a memo titled, Ending Illegal DEI and DEIA Discrimination and Preferences, stating that it will investigate, eliminate, and penalize illegal DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities in the private sector and in educational institutions that receive federal funds.
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) acting general counsel recently issued a memo to all regional NLRB offices, rescinding a series of memos that were issued by the former President Biden-appointed general counsel. The rescinded memos include those instructing NLRB regional offices to expand remedies for employees, those with guidance on the rights of student-athletes, and those with instructions on when severance and non-compete agreements infringe on employees’ labor rights. The full list of rescinded memos can be found here.
Upcoming Supreme Court Cases
Over the last month, the Supreme Court has also announced that it will hear a number of education-related cases, including the following:
LCW is closely monitoring developments in relation to these various Executive Orders, Supreme Court cases, and other federal updates.