Congress vs. Trump: The uphill battle for education reform

President-elect Donald Trump’s second term could bring radical changes to U.S. education, emphasizing school choice, cuts to K-12 spending, and reduced federal oversight. Aligned with conservative parent groups like Moms for Liberty, Trump has promised to curtail funding for schools that teach “woke” curricula, including critical race theory, and has endorsed the idea of parents electing school principals directly. Key to this agenda will be his choice of education secretary, with candidates like Louisiana’s Cade Brumley, Oklahoma’s Ryan Walters, and Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice, reportedly in consideration. Trump’s bold plans, however, face an uphill battle in Congress, which previously opposed his attempts to slash the Department of Education’s budget and merge it with other agencies. While he speaks about abolishing the department or shrinking it to a minimal staff focused solely on “reading, writing, and arithmetic,” Education Week contends that realizing these goals will depend largely on a cooperative Congress and his ability to galvanize public support for sweeping education reforms.