With Gov. Tim Walz, a former teacher, joining the Democratic field, education could become a hot topic this election.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has unveiled his education policy plan in Agenda 47. Separate from the oft-mentioned Project 2025, Agenda 47 covers Trump’s official policy platform on issues such as crime, healthcare and immigration. Agenda 47 on Education It offers 10 ideas for “great schools that lead to great jobs,” ranging from curriculum requirements to funding prioritization for schools with internship programs.
John Valant, director of the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center for Education Policy, said the election comes at a critical time for educators. Between the pandemic and the culture wars, teachers have had a tough time in recent years, and Trump’s proposals are unlikely to alleviate the core of those issues, he said.
“These are politics more than policy,” Valant said in an interview. “My concern is that these proposals are a distraction. They distract people from the things we really need to be talking about.”
of National Education AssociationThe nation’s largest teachers union, the American Teachers Union, voiced its support for Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz. American Teachers President Becky Pringle said Trump’s policies were ingrained during his tenure, when he appointed Betsy DeVos as education secretary. Pringle said she wants to see an administration that helps teachers get more resources and respect to alleviate the teacher shortage.
“When I began teaching years ago, I had no idea that every decision about my children, my classrooms, and my colleagues was being made by people elected or appointed to positions of power,” Pringle said, explaining that she would like to see more educators in public office. “We will see an educator in the White House.”
Below are some of President Trump’s proposed education policies that will affect teachers and the school system, as cited in Agenda 47:
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Prioritize schools that abolish the lifetime employment system for teachers
“To reward good teachers, President Trump Embed “We will provide funding and other incentives to states and school districts that eliminate tenure for K-12 teachers, institute merit-based pay to reward outstanding teachers, and give parents the right to vote for the principals who direct their children’s education.”
◾ How we got here: Valant called the proposal “an old but good proposal for conservative education reform” because of its popularity among conservatives. About a decade ago, some states tried to reform teacher hiring systems by extending probationary periods, but the push has waned in recent years as other education issues have come to the fore.
◾ In today’s situation: Valant said union politics are at play here, because teachers unions want to protect tenure as a means to protect themselves against unfounded firings. “This is primarily a direct attack on teachers unions,” Valant said. He also said he’s concerned that teacher recruitment and retention has already been under stress in recent years, and that stripping away tenure would make that even worse.
Universal School Choice
“President Trump Universal School Choice “President Trump commends Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia for leading America’s school choice revolution, and looks forward to working with other states and the U.S. Congress to provide universal school choice for all American families.”
◾ How we got here: School choice includes a range of policies that allow parents to use public funds to pay for private school tuition or homeschool. Valant said there used to be bipartisan agreement on narrow school choice policies that allowed charter schools. But broader school choice policies, such as offering vouchers that give parents money to send their children to private schools, have expanded dramatically in recent years. According to Education Week: School Selection They say it will help provide new options for kids attending underperforming schools.
◾ Current situation: The fruits of expanding school choice policies are yet to be seen. But vouchers are often not enough to cover private school tuition, so they end up mainly supporting wealthier families — families whose children already attend private schools, Valant said. It could also change the school enrollment landscape, Valant said, if wealthier kids go to private schools and lower-income kids go to public schools. “To me, the damage that could be done to the public education system seems like a huge risk.”
Establish a certification body to certify patriotic teachers.
“President Trump 1776 CommissionPresident Trump created the National Assembly, a nonpartisan organization he initially created to ensure that American children learn the truth about their country’s history and the eternal principles of liberty and equality, only to have it dissolved by Joe Biden on his first day in office… President Trump rejection “I will resist any attempt to weaponize or nationalize civics education, and I will establish a credentialing agency that certifies teachers who embrace patriotic values and uphold the American way of life.”
◾ Background: President Trump established the 1776 Commission in November 2020 as part of a backlash against The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which examined the U.S. history of slavery. That backlash also included conservatives passing a ban on “critical race theory” curricula as a key part of the brewing culture wars. The commission’s report, produced just days before President Trump left office, legitimized the U.S. history of slavery and undermined the legacy of the civil rights movement.
◾ In today’s situation: The political message of the critical race theory and history curriculum appears to have weakened in the last year, and Valant said the creation of the new accreditation body is politically motivated but also a departure from traditional conservative values of eliminating government regulation.
Pringle also said that this type of body is politically driven and that this certification body may be made up of unqualified appointees.
“They don’t know what kids need, and they don’t have the training, much less the preparation of educators, to teach the diverse learning needs and skills and meet the needs of kids where they are,” Pringle said. “So I know there’s a political nature to everything he does.”
Contributors: Kayla Jimenez, Matthew Brown
