[[link removed]]

HOW EDUCATION CHANGED IN ONE YEAR UNDER TRUMP  
[[link removed]]


 

Nirvi Shah
December 18, 2025
The Hechinger Report
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ It was almost impossible for the average observer to keep track of
the array of changes across colleges and universities, K-12 schools,
early education and education research. This is a look at how the
education world was transformed. _

,

 

Even with a conservative think tank’s blueprint
[[link removed]]
detailing how the second Trump administration should reimagine the
federal government’s role in education, few might have predicted
what actually materialized this year for America’s schools and
colleges. 

Or what might be yet to come. 

“2025 will go down as a banner year for education: the year we
restored merit in higher education, rooted out waste, fraud and abuse,
and began in earnest returning education to the states,” Education
Secretary Linda McMahon told The Hechinger Report. She listed
canceling K-12 grants she called wasteful, investing more in charter
schools, ending college admissions that consider race or anything
beyond academic achievement and making college more affordable
[[link removed]]
as some of the year’s accomplishments. 

“Best of all,” she said, “we’ve begun breaking up the federal
education bureaucracy
[[link removed]]
and returning education control to parents and local communities.
These are reforms conservatives have championed for decades — and in
just 12 months, we’ve made them a reality.” 

McMahon’s characterization of the year is hardly universal
[[link removed]].
Earlier this month, Senate Democrats, led by independent Sen. Bernie
Sanders, called out
[[link removed]]
some of the administration’s actions this year. They labeled federal
changes, especially plans to divide the Education Department’s
duties across the federal government, dangerous and likely to cause
chaos for schools and colleges. 

“Already, this administration has cancelled billions of dollars in
education programs, illegally withheld nearly $7 billion in formula
funds, and proposed to fully eliminate many of the programs included
in the latest transfer,” the senators wrote in a letter to
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the committee that oversees
education. “In our minds, that is unacceptable.” 

So, what really happened to education this year? It was almost
impossible for the average observer to keep track
[[link removed]]
of the array of changes across colleges and universities, K-12
schools, early education and education research
[[link removed]]
— and what it has all meant. This is a look back at how the
education world was transformed.  

HIGHER EDUCATION

The administration was especially forceful in the higher education
[[link removed]]
arena. It used measures including antidiscrimination law to quickly
freeze billions of dollars in higher education research funding,
interrupting years-long medical studies and coercing Columbia, Brown,
Northwestern and other institutions into handing over
multimillion-dollar payments and agreeing to policy changes demanded
by the administration.

A more widespread “compact
[[link removed]]”
promising preference for federal funding to universities that agreed
to largely ideological principles had almost no takers
[[link removed]].
But in the face of government threats, universities and colleges
scrapped diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs
[[link removed]]
that provided support based on race and other characteristics, and
banned transgender athletes from competing on teams corresponding to
genders other than the ones they were assigned at birth.

As the administration unleashed its set of edicts, Republicans in
Congress also expanded taxes on college and university endowments. And
the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made other big changes to higher
education, such as limiting graduate student borrowing and eliminating
certain loan forgiveness programs. That includes public service loan
forgiveness for graduates who take jobs with organizations the
administration designated as having a “substantial illegal
purpose” because they help refugees or transgender youth. In
response, states, cities, labor unions and nonprofits immediately
filed suit, arguing that the rule violated the First Amendment. 

The administration has criticized universities, colleges and liberal
students for curbing the speech of conservatives by shouting them down
or blocking their appearances on campuses. However, it proceeded to
revoke the visas of and begin deportation proceedings against
international students who joined protests or wrote opinions
criticizing Israeli actions in Gaza and U.S. government policy there.
 

Meanwhile, emboldened legislatures and governors in red states pushed
back on what faculty could say in classrooms. College presidents
including James Ryan at the University of Virginia and Mark Welsh III
at Texas A&M were forced out in the aftermath of controversies over
these issues. _— Jon Marcus_

RELATED: HOW TRUMP 2.0 UPENDED EDUCATION RESEARCH AND STATISTICS IN
ONE YEAR
[[link removed]]

K-12 EDUCATION

Since Donald Trump returned to office earlier this year, K-12 schools
have lost millions of dollars in sweeping cuts to federal grants,
including money that helped schools serve students who are deaf or
blind, grants that bolstered the dwindling rural teacher workforce and
funding for Wi-Fi hotspots
[[link removed]]. 

Last summer, the Trump administration briefly froze billions of
dollars
[[link removed]]
in federal funding for schools on June 30, one day before districts
would typically apply to receive it. Although the money was restored
in late July, some school leaders said they no longer felt confident
they’ll receive all expected federal funds next year. And they are
braced for more cuts to federal budgets as the U.S. Department of
Education is dismembered.

That process, as well as the end goal of returning the department’s
responsibilities to the states, has raised uncertainty about whether
federal money will continue to be earmarked for the same purposes. If
the state of Illinois is in charge of federal funding for every school
in the state, said Todd Dugan, superintendent of a rural Illinois
district, will rural schools still get money to boost student
achievement or will the state decide there are more pressing
needs?  

As part of layoffs at the Education Department during the government
shutdown in the fall, the Trump administration cut loose almost
everyone who works in the Office of Special Education Programs,
alarming many parents and advocates
[[link removed]].
About 7.5 million children ages 3 to 21 are served under federal law
protecting students with disabilities, and the office had already lost
staffers after the Trump administration dismissed nearly half the
Education Department’s staff in March. Some worry this additional
round of layoffs is a big step toward moving oversight of how states
treat students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human
Services.

Even as the Trump administration attempts to push more control over
education to the states, it has aggressively expanded federal power
over school choice and transgender student rights in public schools.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will create a federal school voucher
program
[[link removed]],
allowing taxpayers to donate up to $1,700 for scholarships that
families can use to pay for private school. The program won’t start
until 2027, and states can choose whether to participate — setting
up potentially divisive fights over new money for education in
Democratic-controlled states. 

Already, some Democratic-led states have come to the defense of
schools in funding and legal fights with the federal government over
transgender athletes participating in sports
[[link removed]].
The U.S. departments of Education and Justice launched a special
investigations team to look into complaints of Title IX violations,
targeting school districts and states that don’t restrict
accommodations or civil rights protections for transgender students.
Legal experts expect the U.S. Supreme Court to ultimately decide how
Title IX — a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in
education — applies to public schools.

The federal government directly runs just two systems of schools —
one for military families and the other for children of tribal nations
[[link removed]].
In an executive order
[[link removed]]
signed in January, the president directed both systems to offer
parents a portion of federal funding allocated to their children to
attend private, religious or charter schools. 

And as part of the dismantling of the federal Education Department,
the Interior Department — which oversees 183 tribal schools across
nearly two dozen states — will assume greater control of Indian
education programs. In addition to rolling out school choice at its
campuses, the department will take over Indian education grants to
public schools across the country, Native language programs, Alaska
Native and Native Hawaiian programs, tribally controlled colleges and
universities, and many other institutions. _— Ariel Gilreath and
Neal Morton_

RELATED: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MAKES GOOD ON MANY PROJECT 2025
EDUCATION GOALS
[[link removed]]

EARLY EDUCATION

Early education was not at the top of Trump’s agenda when he
returned to office. On the campaign trail, when asked if he would
support legislation to make child care affordable, he gave an
unfocused answer
[[link removed]],
suggesting tariff revenue could be tapped to bring down costs. Asked a
similar question, Vice President JD Vance suggested that care by
family members [[link removed]] was
one potential solution to child care shortages. 

However, many of the administration’s actions, including cuts to the
government workforce and grants, have affected children who depend on
federal support. In April, the administration abruptly closed five of
10
[[link removed]]
regional offices supporting Head Start, the free, federally funded
early childhood program for children from low-income families. Head
Start program managers worried they would be caught up in a freeze on
grant funding that affected all agencies. Even though administration
officials said funds would keep flowing to Head Start, some centers
reported having problems drawing down their money
[[link removed]].
The prolonged government shutdown, which ended Nov. 12 after 43 days,
also forced some Head Start programs to temporarily close
[[link removed]]. 

Though the shutdown is over, Head Start advocates are still worried.
Many of the administration’s actions have been guided by the Project
2025 policy document
[[link removed]]
created by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Project 2025 calls
for eliminating Head Start, which serves about 715,000 children from
birth to age 5, for a savings of about $12 billion a year. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act contained some perks for parents,
including an increase in the child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,200.
The bill also created a new program called Trump accounts
[[link removed]]: Families can
contribute up to $5,000 each year until a child turns 18, at which
point the Trump account will turn into an individual retirement
account. For children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028,
the government will provide a $1,000 bonus. Billionaires Michael and
Susan Dell have also promised to contribute $250 to the account of
each child ages 10 and under who lives in a ZIP code with a median
household income of $150,000 or less. 

That program will launch in summer 2026. _— Christina A. Samuels_

_Contact staff writer __Nirvi Shah_
[[link removed]] _at 212-678-3445, on
Signal at NirviShah.14 or [email protected]_
[[link removed]].   

_This story about the __Trump administration’s impact on education_
[[link removed]]_
was produced by _The Hechinger Report [[link removed]]_,
a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and
innovation in education. Sign up for __the Hechinger newsletter_
[[link removed]]_._

 

* Education
[[link removed]]
* higher education
[[link removed]]
* Public Education
[[link removed]]
* students
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]