WASHINGTON — President Trump is ordering U.S. schools to stop teaching what he views as “critical race theory” and other material dealing with race and sexuality or risk losing their federal money.
A separate plan announced Wednesday calls for aggressive action to fight antisemitism on college campuses, promising to prosecute offenders and revoke visas for international students deemed to be “Hamas sympathizers.”
Both plans were outlined in executive orders Trump signed Wednesday. The measures seek to fulfill some of the Republican president’s core campaign promises around education, though it’s unclear how much power he has to enact the proposals.
His order on K-12 schools declares that federal money cannot be used on the “indoctrination” of children, including “radical gender ideology and critical race theory.” It says civil rights laws barring discrimination based on sex and race would be used to enforce the order, calling critical race theory an “inherently racist policy.”
Examples cited in the order include a policy at Harrisonburg City Public Schools in Virginia requiring teachers to use students’ preferred names and pronouns. Another policy at Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin says schools should “disrupt the gender binary” by teaching students to embrace different gender identities, according to the order.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights investigates allegations of civil rights violations and can impose sanctions up to a total loss of federal money, though that penalty has almost never been used and must be approved by a judge.
Trey Walk, a researcher and advocate with Human Rights Watch, says the president’s order is an attempt to suppress teaching about race and racism.
“Students have a right to learn about how discrimination can be entrenched in law and society. If the U.S. denies young people this knowledge, it has little hope of eradicating racism,” he said.
Trump also directs the education secretary to craft a strategy within 90 days to “end indoctrination in K-12 education.” Trump has appointed billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon as his education chief, but her Senate confirmation hearing has not been scheduled.
During his campaign, Trump said he would sign an order “on Day 1” to cut federal money for schools that push “critical race theory” or other “inappropriate” content. The federal government provides billions of dollars to schools every year, though the vast majority of their money comes from state and local sources.
The order taps into a wave of conservative anger that has taken aim at classroom lessons that some see as too liberal. A growing number of Republican states have adopted laws or rules barring the teaching of so-called critical race theory or “divisive concepts” in public schools and universities.
Opponents say the rules impose vague restrictions on teachers and create a chilling effect on discussions about history and other subjects.
The term “critical race theory” is used by conservatives as a catchall for subjects they don’t want to be taught in the classroom, though, in reality, it refers to a complex academic and legal framework taught in some colleges centered on the idea that racism is embedded in the nation’s systems.
Trump’s plan to fight antisemitism would “marshal all federal resources” and bring immediate action from the Justice Department to investigate and punish offenders on U.S. campuses. It calls for the deportation of “nonresident aliens” who “violate our laws,” citing previous threats by Trump to revoke student visas for international students who attended pro-Palestinian protests.
Trump’s action promises to “protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.”
It drew swift backlash from civil rights groups who noted that campus protests have mostly been peaceful and are protected by constitutional free speech rights.
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the action is discriminatory and wrongly characterizes protesters as “pro-jihadist” or “pro-Hamas.”
“These college students were Jewish, Muslim, Black, Palestinian and various other races who were simply protesting what they viewed as a genocide in Gaza,” Mitchell said. “They are no different than the students who protested Vietnam or segregation or apartheid in South Africa.”
Tensions over the Israel-Hamas war led to emotional demonstrations on U.S. campuses, including a wave of pro-Palestinian tent encampments that led to some 3,200 arrests.
The Biden administration opened more than 100 investigations into alleged antisemitism and Islamophobia at schools and universities after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. A flurry of schools reached deals to settle the cases before Trump took office amid fears that he would issue heavier sanctions.
The White House on Wednesday also reinstated an order from Trump’s first term establishing the so-called 1776 Commission to promote “patriotic education” in U.S. schools.
Biden revoked the order and the commission’s guide for teaching history. The guide played down America’s role in slavery and argued that the civil rights movement ran afoul of the “lofty ideals” espoused by the Founding Fathers. It was widely panned by historians, who said it was outdated and ignored decades of research.
Binkley and Miller write for the Associated Press. AP writer Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco contributed to this report. The AP’s education coverage receives financial support from private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
