On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed executive orders to help parents choose schools and to end federal funding for educational programs that he called indoctrinating students with anti-American ideology based on race and gender, UNN reports citing Voice of America.
Details
The two executive orders, which came a week after Trump was sworn in for his second term, are in line with his campaign promise to overhaul the US education system.
The first executive order directs the U.S. Department of Education to issue guidance on how states can use federal education funds to support school choice initiatives.
"It is the policy of my administration to support parents in choosing the school, in directing the upbringing and education of their children," said the US president, "Too many children are not doing well in public schools.
The second directive aims to ensure that schools do not use federal funds to create curricula, teacher certification, or other purposes related to "gender ideology or discriminatory equality ideology.
"In recent years, parents have witnessed schools indoctrinating their children with radical anti-American ideas by deliberately blocking parental supervision," the US president's decree reads.
The document also reports that teachers demanded parental consent to concepts of white privilege or involuntary prejudice, thereby encouraging racism and undermining national unity.
The first executive order directs the U.S. Department of Education to prioritize federal funding for school choice programs, a longstanding goal of conservatives who argue that public schools fail to meet academic standards while promoting liberal ideas.
Many Democrats and teachers' unions say that school choice undermines the public system that educates 50 million American children.
The decree also directs states to use the grants to support alternatives to public education, such as private and religious schools.
One of the executive orders allows military families to use Pentagon funds to send their children to the school of their choice. The executive order also mandates that Native American families in the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Education have the right to use federal funds to choose their schools.
Addendum
According to census data, secondary education in the United States is primarily funded by state and local taxes. Federal sources account for about 14% of funding for public high schools.