President Donald Trump will halt federal funding for K-12 schools that teach gender ideology and “discriminatory equity ideology.”
Under a new executive order to stop “radical indoctrination” in public schools, the secretary of education is mandated to present a strategy to eliminate ideologies that treat individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups and radical gender ideology in school lessons within 90 days. Preferred or disfavored groups include teachings about a race, sex, nationality or other identity making someone privileged or oppressed.
Schools will also be asked to ensure education is patriotic, which Trump defines as a history of America grounded in celebrating the nation. Education should present American history under this executive order as inspiring, admirable and in pursuit of its founding goals.
Under the executive order, the Attorney General is also asked to coordinate with state attorneys general to pursue legal action against any K-12 staff who help a minor student adopt a new gender identity. This includes offering counseling to students, changing a students name or pronouns, calling a child nonbinary and allowing students to participate in sports or use facilities that do not align with their sex at birth.
“Parents trust America’s schools to provide their children with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand,” the executive order reads. “In recent years, however, parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight.”
Ohio’s educational curriculum is codified. Districts are required to learn about the Declaration of Independence, the Northwest Ordinance, the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions and the documents’ “original context.” Each district is invited to created its own curriculum so long as it satisfies state requirements.
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Central Ohio school districts do teach about race, but most say they do not teach critical race theory, including New Albany-Plain, Hilliard and South-Western schools.
“What we have seen this week and last is the Trump administration’s strategy at work: push out a slew of confusing and vague executive orders to exhaust Americans by inducing panic and distracting from real issues, such as the economy,” Honesty for Ohio Education Executive Director Christina Collins said. “If Trump resurrects his arguments around the fictional boogeyman of CRT from 2020 through an executive order, we will be interested in how he attempts to define CRT considering his previous attempts were unclear.”
However, the executive order does not list critical race theory as a banned topic. Many local school districts do prioritize understanding race. Bexley, for instance, said it teaches its students to be aware of race and to learn about racial inequality. Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools teach that race is a social construct and that racism unfairly disadvantages some students. When Ohio lawmakers considered banning critical race theory in 2021, many local districts spoke out against the bill despite not teaching CRT
