President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Thursday directing federal departments to respect and advance school choice within their respective jurisdictions, in the process declaring that "parents, not the government, play a fundamental role in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children."

According to a White House fact sheet, the order directs the U.S. Department of Education officials to "issue guidance on how the States can use federal funding formulas to support their K-12 scholarship programs" and "prioritize school choice programs" in discretionary grants; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to "issue guidance on how states receiving block grants for children and families can use those funds to support educational alternatives, including private and faith-based options"; the Secretary of Defense to submit a plan for "how military families can use Department of Defense funds to send their children to the school of their choice"; and the Secretary of the Interior to submit a plan for how families of children at Bureau of Indian Education schools "can use federal funds to send their children to the school of their choice."

"Parents can be confident that under his Administration, President Trump will provide every available opportunity for parents to enrich the education of their children through individual choice," the administration says. 

The order follows another executive action that Trump took within days of taking office, directing multiple departments to formulate a plan to eliminate federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools – including based on gender ideology and discriminatory "equity" ideology – and to protect parental rights. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he also promised to support a $10,000 per child tax write-off for homeschool families.

The school choice movement has been gaining steam across the country in recent years, amid ongoing controversy over sexually explicit, racially divisive, and politically biased content that has been uncovered in numerous public school classrooms and libraries, which critics denounce for abusing educational authority to indoctrinate students into perverse sexual practices and educators' own ideology and partisan allegiances.

The indoctrination of children with left-wing ideology on sexuality, race, and other left-wing agenda items has long been a major concern in American public schools, from libraries to athletic and restroom policy to drag events to classroom materials to even "transitioning" troubled children without parental input. Many schools have also displayed hostility to the rights and employment of individual teachers who refuse to go along with such agendas.