Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Tuesday announced that discretionary grants will prioritize three issues important to the Trump Administration: evidence-based literacy, expanding school choice and returning education to the states.
Each of these priorities aims to inspire educators to get “back to basics,” McMahon said in a public statement.
“Discretionary grants coming from the Department of Education will now be focused on meaningful learning and expanding school choice, not divisive ideologies and unproven strategies,” she said.
For instance, four out of six of the Biden Administration’s supplemental grant priorities advanced diversity, equity and inclusion ideology, according to the announcement. The Trump Administration argued that the previous administration’s policies infused grant programs with divisive race stereotypes and racial quotas, including:
- Pushing student racial diversity through diversity plans, admissions policies and technical assistance.
- Embedding DEI in education subjects and programs such as civics, STEM and career and technical education.
- Focusing on diversity amongst educators instead of sound teacher preparation.
According to the Education Department’s announcement, this is the fastest an education secretary has released proposed grant priorities in the first year of an administration. McMahon plans to publish additional priorities later this year.
More about the grant priorities
McMahon’s supplemental grant priorities are tools that allow the Trump Administration to align discretionary grant competitions with its priorities. Here’s a breakdown of each priority and how it will be addressed through grants.
Evidence-based literacy
According to the announcement, the Education Department will promote literacy instruction based on evidence to ensure that strategies using the science of reading will be used in K12 schools. The science of reading is a body of evidence-based research that proves the importance of providing direct, systematic and explicit instruction based on phonological awareness, phonic decoding, vocabulary, fluency and reading comprehension.
School choice
This priority will be addressed by expanding access to education across all applicable discretionary grant competitions. This priority includes a “menu” of options depending on a grant program’s purpose and goals. Options include:
- Expansion of charters
- Innovative school models
- K12 open enrollment
- Dissemination of information on school choice options
- Implementation of ESAs
- Home-based education
- Concurrent enrollment programs
- Career preparation
- Postsecondary distance education
- Skills-based education
- Apprenticeships
- Work-based learning
- Accelerated learning and tutoring
Returning power to the states
This priority will enable the Education Department to prioritize state applicants in competitions where they qualify as eligible entities or can endorse other entities.
It will also have the broadest applicability across grant programs, the Education Department wrote. It aims to to re-envision existing programs, reduce administrative burdens at the department and demonstrate that states are well-positioned to manage these programs.
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