President Donald Trump is ordering U.S. schools to stop teaching what he views as “critical race theory” and other material dealing with race, sexuality and gender identity — or risk losing their federal money.
The order specifically mentions a Madison Metropolitan School District policy that it says calls on schools to “disrupt the gender binary” by teaching students to embrace different gender identities.
Teachers and school officials who promote the “social transition” of students would face action from state, local and federal legal authorities under Trump’s plan. The order says the practice amounts to sexual exploitation.
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Madison school officials did not immediately respond to WPR’s requests for comment.
Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin and a former MMSD teacher, said when teachers use the name and pronouns a child asks for, they model inclusion and understanding for all the other students in the classroom, making the classroom a more empathetic place.
“And then those children grow up and make the world a safer place,” Swetz said. “And frankly, I would say that is a radical act — a radical act of kindness.”
In February 2020, several parents, represented by the conservative law firm the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, anonymously sued the Madison Metropolitan School District.
They claimed the district’s guidance to provide support for transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive students violated their parental rights by allowing students to use names and pronouns at school different from those they were assigned at birth, without providing parental notification without a student’s consent.
In April 2018, the school district adopted “Guidance & Policies to Support Transgender, Non-binary & Gender-Expansive Students.” The policy explained the district’s view that each person has a gender identity that is distinct from his or her biological sex, which “can be the same as or different from their sex assigned at birth.”
According to the policy, a person’s gender identity can be “male, female, a blend of both or neither” and is determined entirely by “a person’s internal sense of self.”
The trial court declined to allow the parents to sue anonymously. The appellate court and Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the decision.
In June 2023, the last remaining plaintiff dismissed her appeal, saying she lacked standing to challenge the school district’s policy because there was no indication she or her child would ever be affected by the policy.
Trump’s order on K-12 schools declares 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.”’
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 yet.
During his campaign, Trump said he would sign an order “on day one” 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.
Trump announces separate plans for college campuses
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 found to be “Hamas sympathizers.”
Both plans were outlined in executive orders to be signed by Trump on 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.
The measure 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 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 taught in the classroom, though, in reality, it refers to a complex academic and legal framework centered on the idea that racism is embedded in the nation’s systems.
It became a buzzword amid conservative pushback against the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which aimed to tell a fuller story of the country’s history by putting slavery at the center of America’s founding.
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 accuses the Biden administration of turning a blind eye to antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the war that ensued. Tensions over the conflict 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 the Oct. 7 attacks. 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 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.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add a response from Abigail Swetz.
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