WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order declaring he would divert federal funding from schools that teach “discriminatory equity ideology,” a vague phrase that loosely refers to systemic racism.
The executive order says the prohibited ideology treats “individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals,” and minimizes “agency, merit, and capability in favor of immoral generalizations.”
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The order also attempts to bar schools from using federal funds to support transgender and nonbinary students through their social transitions – directly or indirectly. Allowing trans students to participate in school sports on teams that don’t correspond to their sex assigned at birth is prohibited under the mandate.
The mandate will likely face court challenges since the federal government does not have the authority to set curriculum for U.S. schools. That is the jurisdiction of states and local school boards. Legal experts also argue that antidiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people extend to students.
The federal government only provides about one-tenth of the funding for school districts. The bulk of revenue for most schools comes from states and local property taxes.
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In recent years, CRT has become a lightning rod for Republicans, including Trump, who hang their arguments on a nebulous definition of the theory. The concept isn’t mentioned in the executive order.
* Original Article:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2025/01/29/trump-order-funds-schools-critical-race-theory/77778609007/