WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Independent Women, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and advancing policies that actually enhance opportunity and well-being, applauds President Trump’s most recent executive order, Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families. The order directs the Secretary of Education to issue guidance to states on using federal funds to support school choice initiatives and to expand federal grant programs for school choice. The order also directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance to states on how they can use federal block grants to support school choice for low-income, working families.
The executive order honors the service and sacrifice of military families by including specific provisions for them that ensure their children have access to educational options, allowing them to portably use funds that the federal government spends on their behalf towards instruction of their own choosing. The Executive Order also takes care to include children eligible for Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools, ordering the Secretary of the Interior to establish a plan that would allow BIE families to use the federal funds they already receive toward schools of their choice.
Parents deserve the right to have their tax dollars go toward the best possible education for their children, but in the absence of school choice, far too many parents are forced to send their children to government-run, government-assigned K12 public schools that are failing to educate their students and disrespecting parents’ values. President Trump’s executive order will work toward changing this and ensuring that every American child has access to anthe best education that gives them the best possible start in life possible.
“These are students whose educations are the direct responsibility of the federal government, a responsibility the government has failed to uphold for decades,” said Independent Women senior legal analyst Inez Stepman. “We applaud President Trump and his administration for finally granting these families access to school choice and to better educational options for their children.”
Independent Women policy analyst Neeraja Deshpande said, “Far too many of our nation’s public schools are producing abysmal outcomes: the results of last year’s National Assessment of Education Progress, which were just released on January 29th, reveal the highest percentage of eighth graders with ‘below basic’ reading skills in the assessment’s three-decade history. Parents should not be forced to send their tax dollars—and their children—to schools that are leaving students illiterate. We commend that this executive order makes it easier for parents to put their hard-earned tax money toward better educational options for their children—who are ultimately America’s future.”