Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Jorge Martinez.
In schools across America, a quiet revolution is underway — and it’s being led by President Donald J. Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon. After years of bureaucratic overreach, ideological indoctrination, and declining academic standards, educational freedom has returned to the hands of those who know best: parents.
From day one, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance made it clear that their priority was putting students first, not teachers’ unions, not activist administrators, and not Washington elites. Under their leadership, America is witnessing the most sweeping restoration of parental rights and school choice in modern history. The results are profound.
This administration’s national initiative to expand educational freedom under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and enhanced guidance for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) programs redirects federal education dollars toward approved private, charter, religious, homeschooling, and technical education options.
Additionally, Secretary McMahon announced a $60 million increase to the federal Charter Schools Program, bringing its FY2025 total to $500 million—a critical investment in expanding high-quality options for families nationwide. Whether it’s a classical school in Iowa, a STEM academy in Florida, or a hybrid program in Arizona, parents are finally in the driver’s seat — and students are flourishing.
The impact is already being felt across the country from school choice opportunities. States that have embraced Educational Freedom Scholarships are already seeing meaningful results. In Tennessee, for example, overwhelming demand for the program led to more than 33,000 applications for just 20,000 available school vouchers within hours of launch — a powerful signal that parents are eager for alternatives and a choice in their child’s education.
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This didn’t happen by accident. It happened because Secretary McMahon brought executive clarity, business discipline, and moral courage to an agency long mired in red tape. A seasoned leader and no-nonsense reformer, McMahon has led the charge to cut waste, end politicized curriculum mandates, and return decision-making to local school boards and parents. Her work has restored trust in the federal role: not as a top-down enforcer, but as a promoter of liberty and learning.
Under President Trump and Secretary McMahon’s stewardship, the Department of Education has eliminated more than 200 burdensome regulations, cut half of the department’s positions, fast-tracked funding flexibility for rural and underserved communities, and reestablished the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission — a first-of-its-kind federal initiative devoted to promoting patriotic education. The 1776 Commission is tasked with advancing civic understanding, fostering national unity, and ensuring that America’s founding principles are taught with honesty, pride, and reverence to the next generation.
And the Trump-Vance administration’s support for vocational education is transforming the pipeline to prosperity. Through a historic expansion of apprenticeship programs, streamlined certifications, and direct partnerships with industry, high schools and technical centers are equipping students with the skills they need to step straight into high-wage, high-demand jobs — from welding and HVAC to cybersecurity, nursing, and advanced manufacturing—without the crushing debt of a four-year degree.
President Trump’s executive order to modernize federal workforce programs will also cut red tape, prioritize hands-on learning, and ensure that every American — regardless of background — can access a clear, debt-free pathway to prosperity.
Beyond academics, the Trump-Vance administration has also taken a firm stand on restoring sanity and values to the classroom. President Trump’s executive order banning radical indoctrination in K-12 restores parents’ trust in America’s schools. The order reaffirms that schools must respect parental authority and uphold longstanding civil rights laws, including Title IX, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA). It ensures that federal education funding cannot be used to promote radical ideologies that divide students by race, confuse them about their identities, or exclude parents from critical decisions about their child’s upbringing.
Perhaps most important of all is the administration’s historic effort towards empowering parents who want to protect their children from radical ideologies. Secretary McMahon is now directing every public school in the country to comply with federal parental rights laws. Under this administration’s leadership, parents are guaranteed transparency in curricula, full access to school budgets, performance data, and parental opt-out rights on controversial content. It’s a simple principle with revolutionary impact: parents have the final say.
Opponents in the media and on the radical left have tried to smear these efforts as “extreme.” But here’s what’s actually extreme: test scores falling while funding rises, children being taught to hate their country, and schools hiding information from families. That era is over.
Thanks to the bold vision of President Trump, the unwavering resolve of Vice President Vance, and the exceptional leadership of Secretary Linda McMahon, we are witnessing a renaissance of American education — one rooted in excellence, freedom, and family. The classroom is no longer a battleground for ideology. It’s a launchpad for opportunity.
And under the Trump-Vance administration, that opportunity belongs to every American child.
Erika Donalds is Chair of the Center for Education Opportunity at the America First Policy Institute.
Jorge Martinez is National Director for Hispanic Outreach and Director of Special Projects at the America First Policy Institute. He previously served as press secretary for the U.S. Department of Justice.
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