The proposals include abolishing the Department of Education, privatizing student loans, and pushing forward federal parental rights legislation as part of Project 2025, a conservative wish list of policies for the next Republican president that has sparked great controversy.
The educational part the sweeping platformlaunched by a coalition of right-wing organizations supporting former President Trump, would fundamentally change the funding and curricula of elementary, high school, and higher education.
Trump has tried Distancing from Project 2025 According to experts, the right-wing extremist platform would cause considerable damage to the federal government on many fronts, including with regard to schools and students.
“It is no exaggeration to say that Project 2025 would be a wrecking ball for public education in this country. It aims to radically undermine and undermine people’s ability to receive a quality education in this country. And it goes even further and tries to turn our public education system and our public schools into ideological extremist spaces,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward.
The project, initiated by the Heritage Foundation, envisages the dissolution of the Department of Education, which has long been a goal of many conservatives. However, observers say the plans do not contain any detailed information on what will happen to the system.
“If the goal is to reduce the size of government, you’re not doing that, you’re just playing games with these programs. It looked to me like a lot of what they’re doing is just some kind of restructuring that doesn’t feel well supported or based on any rationale for why they should work,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution.
The proposals also seek to reorganize programs like Title I, which supports low-income schools, and let states take over their funding within 10 years. Before states take the reins, the federal government would give them block grants for Title I, but with no rules about how the money is spent.
The plan “looks to me like the complete elimination of Title I,” Valant said, adding that he does not believe states would spend money on Title I unless it was specifically earmarked for that purpose.
A Project 2025 account recently posted on social media platform X to correct information about the project’s policies that it claimed had been distorted.
For example, the group denies advocating for the elimination of free school breakfast and lunch for certain students, saying it merely condemns “the Biden administration’s decision to threaten schools that do not adhere to radical transgender policies.” The same reasoning is used by those who fear the project would put an end to civil rights protections and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
“Mandat for Leadership calls for respect for the civil rights of all Americans, including those who have been censored or weaponized by the government. Mandate advocates for an end to divisive, racism-based, anti-American propaganda in the federal workforce,” says Project 2025.
The conservative program also emphasizes that its measures do not contain any reference to African-American studies or gender studies, nor does it mention book bans on the subject of slavery.
It is unclear how many of Project 2025’s goals would actually be part of a potential Trump agenda, as the former president has said he was unaware of the wish list drawn up by many of his supporters.
“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is responsible for it, and, unlike our very well-received Republican platform, had nothing to do with it,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“I disagree with some of the statements they make and some are absolutely ridiculous and miserable. Whatever they do, I wish them luck but I have nothing to do with them.”
But Democrats are trying to blame Trump for the plan, saying it is a roadmap for what his presidency would look like if he defeats President Biden in November.
“Project 2025 is the plan of Donald Trump’s Republican allies on the MAGA team to give Trump more power over your daily life, undermine democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office if he wins,” says a page on the Biden campaign website.
While Project 2025 wants to take education largely out of the hands of the federal government, there are several proposals it would like to see implemented in Congress. The large goals would be a Parents’ Bill of Rights, laws against using a student’s preferred pronouns without parental consent, and school choice initiatives.
“They also put forward some ideas that are a little strange because there’s a kind of leitmotif in the rhetoric that says the federal government should get less involved in education. But they’re also proposing what sounds like a massive tax and scholarship program with federal tax credits,” Valant said.
Higher education is also not left out of the Conservatives’ agenda: one of their most crucial proposals concerns changing the way student loans are handled.
The group wants to phase out income-dependent repayment programs and make debt relief by the federal government impossible in the long term.
Student loans would be transferred to the Treasury Department, with the ultimate goal of private companies taking over.
“Although student loans and grants should ultimately return to the private sector (or at least the federal government should rethink its role as guarantor rather than direct lender), government investments in postsecondary education should strengthen economic growth and recipient institutions should promote academic freedom and embrace intellectual diversity,” says Project 2025.
Others argue that this would put those seeking a college degree in a complex position.
“The proposal is incredibly troubling in this regard. It would attempt to prevent the cancellation of certain student loans – which would be devastating in terms of access. It would also reinstate inflated student loan debt, predatory practices that have really undermined people’s ability to pursue both access to education and economic opportunity,” Perryman said.
“Millions of borrowers are being denied the debt relief they have earned because of an effort to undermine the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which of course many people rely on,” Perryman added.
