Recent Executive Orders and Actions Impacting Education

During the initial weeks of his new administration, President Donald Trump issued a flurry of executive orders and actions that impact education. In addition, federal agencies issued directives and declared policies affecting education.

Consider consulting local legal counsel regarding how these actions affect your institution:

Feb. 14

Department of Education (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR): Dear Colleague Letter

• Clarifies nondiscrimination obligations of schools and other entities that receive federal financial assistance from ED
• Declares the Supreme Court's decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College applies more broadly than to just admissions decisions
• Expands Students for Fair Admissions to prohibit covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administration support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and "all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life."
• Asserts that treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve "nebulous" goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent
• Announces future issuance of further legal guidance, enforcement beginning within two weeks of the letter’s date, and advises all educational institutions to immediately:
  • Ensure their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law.
  • Cease all efforts to "circumvent" prohibitions on the use of race via indirect means, including reliance on any third parties, clearinghouses, or aggregators.

Feb. 5

Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports

• Declares federal policy of opposition to male competitive participation in women’s sports and recission of all funds from educational programs that deprive females of fair athletic opportunities, incorporating Executive Order 14168’s definition of gender
• Directs Secretary of Education to ensure the 2024 Title IX regulations don’t take effect, implement regulations clearly specifying women’s sports are reserved for women, and affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and locker rooms
• Prioritizes Title IX enforcement actions against educational institutions that require female students to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males
• Orders all executive departments and agencies to review grants to educational programs and rescind funding to noncompliant programs
• Rescinds support for and participation in international sports programs who permit “trans-identifying” athletes to compete in female sports

Jan. 29

Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling

• Directs multiple agencies to cease federal funding or support for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology”
• Defines “discriminatory equity ideology” as an ideology that treats people as members of preferred or disfavored groups and minimizes agent, merit, and capability
• Reestablishes the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission “to promote patriotic education”

Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families

• Orders Secretary of Education to issue guidance on how states can use federal funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives
• Directs agencies to review their discretionary grant programs and recommend how to use them to expand educational alternatives to governmental entities
• Seeks evaluation of any available mechanisms for military-connected families and children eligible to attend Bureau of Indian Education schools to use federal funds to attend schools of their choice

Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism

• Reaffirms previously issued Executive Order 13899, which found that students faced antisemitic harassment at educational institutions
• Directs all departments and agencies to identify civil and criminal authorities or actions within their jurisdictions that might be used to combat antisemitism
• Seeks analysis by Attorney General of all court cases involving institutions of higher education alleging civil rights violations related to post-Oct. 7, 2023, campus incidentS
• Similarly requests an analysis of all Title VI complaints related to antisemitism against K-12 educational institutions from the OCR

Jan. 28

Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation

• Establishes U.S. policy not to fund, promote, or support the “so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another”
• Directs heads of agencies or departments that provide research or education grants to medical institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, to immediately take steps to ensure recipients of these funds end provision of these procedures
• Requires Department of Health and Human Services to use all available methods to increase quality of data to guide practices for “improving health of minors with gender dysphoria, rapid-onset gender dysphoria, or other identity-based confusion”

Jan. 27

Restoring America’s Fighting Force

• Orders review of U.S. military academies’ leadership, instructors, and curriculum to eliminate any diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and initiatives
• Prohibits educational institutions operated by the Department of Defense or the U.S. armed forces from promoting certain concepts, including that America’s “founding documents are racist or sexist” or gender exists beyond male and female

ED Press Release — U.S. Dept. of Education Ends Biden's Book Ban Hoax

• Rescinds all guidance stating school districts could violate civil rights laws by implementing book bans
• Eliminates position of “book ban coordinator,” created in 2023
• Declares decision regarding removal of “age-inappropriate” books from schools should be made by parents and communities and OCR “has no role in these matters,” in conjunction with dismissal of 11 complaints relating to book bans

Jan. 21

Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity

• Requires federally funded educational institutions to terminate any race- or gender-based diversity programs that could be in violation of federal civil rights laws
• Directs federal agencies to identify higher education institutions with endowments exceeding $1 billion whose diversity policies violated civil rights laws
• Directs Attorney General to issue guidance for federal funding recipients regarding compliance with the 2023 Supreme Court decision that struck down race-based affirmative action policies in admission

Department of Homeland Security: Directives Expanding Law Enforcement and Ending Abuse

• Rescinds prior guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection
• Permits immigration enforcement actions in previously designated sensitive areas, including elementary and secondary schools, colleges, hospitals, and places of worship

Jan. 20

Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions

• Terminates programs focused on advancing educational opportunities for Hispanic, Native American, and Black students
• Reduces efforts supporting tribal colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions

Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government

• Declares government recognition of only two sexes — male and female — based on reproductive cells
• Directs federal agencies to use this definition to enforce Title IX and other laws, specifying “sex” doesn’t include the “concept of gender identity”
• Bars federal funds from being used to “promote gender ideology”
• Directs Attorney General to issue guidance and assist agencies in protecting sex-based distinctions

Hiring Freeze

• Prohibits hiring or creation of new civilian positions in all executive departments and agencies, including ED
• Requests plan to reduce size of federal workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition

Additional Resources

Akin Gump: Executive Order Tracker