Trump orders school choice, ‘patriotic’ history. What it means for Michigan

• President Donald Trump wants to expand private school choice, which could squeeze public schools
• Another executive order wants to de-emphasize the darker moments of our past in U.S. history lessons
• Michigan education leaders weren’t certain how much impact the orders would have in the state’s classrooms

A sweeping set of executive orders from President Donald Trump could have far-reaching effects on how and where Michigan children are educated — if they’re implemented. 

The orders, issued Wednesday, include attempts to use federal funds to help parents pay for private schools, crack down on schools or educators that support transgender students and steer classroom instruction toward the sunny side of US history while downplaying the nation’s darker moments.

It wasn’t clear what elements of the orders — which you can read here and here — could actually be enforced, or whether some of the president’s policy goals would need congressional approval. 

The orders left many Michigan education leaders uncertain of the ramifications. 

“The changes and the rate of changes at the federal level have many superintendents feeling like we’re going back through the pandemic,” Ingham Intermediate School District Superintendent Jason Mellema told Bridge Michigan. 

“Because information is changing at such a rapid pace, that what we have now, two hours later, has changed.” 

Here’s what we know about the orders and potential impact on Michigan:

Alleged ‘indoctrination’

In an executive order titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” Trump painted a portrait of American public education where “parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight.”

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Trump called for a plan to be submitted to him within 90 days that would end “federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”

Michigan lawmakers in 2023 amended the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. 

Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBTQ+ Project, told Bridge nothing has changed in terms of school districts’ obligation to follow the state law.

“An executive order can’t usurp the authority of a state that has civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination,” Kaplan said.

State Superintendent Michael Rice, in a statement provided to Bridge in response to various Trump executive orders, said children “have the right to go to school to learn without fear of being targeted because they are an immigrant, are transgender, or are a person of color.”

American history

Trump is also aiming to influence how schools discuss American history. 

In one executive order, Trump decried what he called “anti-American ideologies” being taught in schools. He instead called for a “patriotic” education that includes “an accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling characterization of America’s founding and foundational principles,” and “the concept that celebration of America’s greatness and history is proper.”

The fight over how to present history is an “ongoing issue,” said Tamara Shreiner, associate professor of history and social studies education at Grand Valley State University.

“There are those who think that… there’s a risk to social unity if people are exposed to too much of the darker sides of our history,” Shreiner said. “So you and so we want to emphasize the better parts of American history and de-emphasize the parts that paint us in a bad light.”

Curriculum is determined by states and local school districts, not the U.S. Department of Education. Still, the executive order could affect aspects of Michigan education.

“Rhetoric like this (can) strike fear in a lot of teachers, and they avoid teaching about topics that are simply the truth,” Shreiner said, predicting it could discourage educators from instructing about the country’s history with slavery and forced removal of Native Americans.

State Sen. Jim Runestad, a White Lake Republican running to lead the Michigan Republican Party, praised Trump’s actions and argued the political left does not want to talk about the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. 

“All of his programs to get rid of this equity, this gender-hatred, this emasculating of children, the surgeries on children that are life-altering that he’s stopping, every single thing I read in there was absolutely wonderful,” Runestad said. 

Peter Spadafore, executive director of the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, said Trump’s orders could have “serious consequences” but local school district leaders are still trying to “sift through the noise” on what actually will change. He said he does worry the executive order could have a “chilling effect” that could persist until issues are resolved legally. 

School choice

In a different order, Trump told federal departments to assess how federal funds can be used for school choice efforts.

He directed his Secretary of Education — likely Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive he has nominated for the post — to provide states with guidance on how to use federal funding for “educational choice initiatives” within 60 days. 

Trump’s order comes as Republicans reintroduce the Educational Choice for Children Act, which would provide up to $10 billion annually of tax credits to individuals supporting payments that help students attend private schools. The plan has the support of Trump’s former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, a Michigander and longtime school choice advocate. 

Michigan’s Constitution prohibits public funds from being used to support private school enrollment. 

Brian Broderick, executive director of Michigan Association of Non-public Schools, said he doesn’t think Trump’s executive order will mean much for Michigan because the state doesn’t have a private school choice program. With the constitutional ban on that type of programming, there does not appear to be an immediate impact on Michigan, he said. 

Spadafore, of the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, said he thinks there’s a “lot of potential to cause harm” by directing public funds to private education.

While Michigan does not fund private school choice, public school choice is popular. Statewide, 1 in 4 Michigan K-12 students attend school at a charter or in a school choice district, according to a Bridge Michigan analysis of enrollment data. 

Nearly 200,000 students left their district to attend another one during the 2023-24 school year, and another 150,000 attended a charter school.