Look for another change in how the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights operates in enforcing Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sexual discrimination by educational institutions receiving federal funding. Let’s see. Title VI prohibits prejudice based on race, color, or national origin.
The Trump administration is expected to reverse the Biden administration’s position that Title IX covers gender and sexual identity and secures new protections for LGBTQ+ people.
During his campaign, President Trump also mentioned his desire to ban transgender student-athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity.
He did not specify how that would be done. But soon after taking office, “I expect Trump to take action on anti-trans issues regarding transgender girls in sports,” said Morgan Polikoff, a professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Education.
Conservative positions on “parental notification” may also play a role, particularly in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom this year required students to come out as transgender or identify themselves. signed a bill that bans rules that require school districts to warn parents when And the pronouns are different from those on school records.
Advocates at some school districts, including Chino Valley Unified in San Bernardino County, argue that the notification policy is about keeping parents informed about all aspects of their children’s lives. Opponents have derided the policy as a “forced curfew” that makes schools less safe for LGBTQ+ people.
President Trump is also likely to revert to rules established during his first term. effectively overturned by President Biden This year, the definition of sexual harassment was tightened, raising the evidentiary standard for a successful claim and allowing the accused student’s adviser to cross-examine the accuser in a live hearing.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, in Trump’s first term, said the changes were needed to provide stronger due process protections for accused students. Critics said it would weaken the fight against sexual assault on campus.
The Office of Civil Rights also cited anti-Semitism and complaints by students who say they were denied access to programs designed to help, for example, Latinos, Blacks and other underserved populations. It is expected that complaints of discrimination will be investigated more vigorously.
President Trump and his allies have long criticized DEI programs aimed at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, but opponents argue that U.S. institutions essentially treat white people as oppressors. We see this as perpetuating the false and unpatriotic view that the United States is racist.
Aside from investigations, funding is one tool the Trump administration may use to rein in programs and curriculum. That includes “critical race theory,” which denounces it as an anti-American and misguided “woke” movement because it delves into systemic racism. In late 2020, President Trump issued an executive order prohibiting recipients of federal grants and contracts from engaging in “racial and gender scapegoating,” and specifically restricting workplace diversity training that links racism to white people. I called out. The order was challenged by civil rights groups as an unprecedented move in censorship until Biden rescinded it after taking office in 2021.
“The radical left uses the public school system to impose perverse sexual, racial, and political material on young people,” according to President Trump’s statement on education issues. “President Trump will cut federal funding to schools and programs that impose serious racial and gender ideologies on children.”
Critical race theory, which typically examines how racial inequality and racism are systematically built into American institutions at the university level, uses the phrase as an umbrella term to describe racially focused subjects in K-12 public schools.
Stephanie Hall, senior director of higher education policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said it would be difficult to mandate a curriculum. Under federal law passed in the 1960s, state and local governments are responsible for educational standards such as curriculum and staffing. The Obama-era law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, also prohibits federal involvement in curriculum and teacher evaluations.
But that won’t necessarily thwart Trump’s intervention efforts, she said.
“We can expect it to have potential as a weapon. [Office of Civil Rights] She said it’s to pursue DEI initiatives.
