Sunday, February 2, 2025

Sharing a good resource on the education-related executive orders

 As I noted last week, something that is really important about this administration in general, but specifically the executive orders, is not to assume that just because something is said on a piece of paper above Donald Trump's signature, it's so.*

I get updates from Education Counsel in D.C., and they sent out an update late last week on the three education related executive orders, which I have posted in full here (as it isn't yet on their website). 

I wanted particularly call attention to these two things, which are in the "racial ideology in schools" section, but matters across many things in education:

The use of the phrases “applicable law,” “illegal,” “unlawful,” “discriminatory” and other qualifiers throughout the EO is key since it is a reminder that EOs do not supersede existing laws and that calling something “illegal or “unlawful” via an EO does not in fact make it illegal or unlawful. Depending on how the Administration approaches implementation, these other federal laws may stand in their way

And:

Multiple applicable federal statutes prohibit the federal government from interfering with state and local authority to make decisions about K-12 curriculum and instructional materials.

That starts, of course, with the tenth amendment to the Constitution, but lives other places, too. As Education Counsel says in a linked blog post on this subject: 

Congress has clearly and repeatedly outlawed federal intrusion into state and local curricular decisions. Although it only takes a single law to make something illegal, the collective weight of this list highlights just how clear a line the President must toe to remain “consistent with applicable law” when implementing his new order. Indeed, the multiple instances of this four-word phrase throughout the order suggest the Administration may also recognize the significant legal obstacles to exerting federal control over state and local decisions about teaching and learning. By remembering these legal limitations, we all — especially our education leaders — can also avoid overreacting to the order’s rhetoric.

For education, that last line is about our, collectively, holding the federal government only to what it actually is able to do. Education authorities largely do not belong to the federal government.  

_________________
*And if you're one of those going around snarking 'who's going to stop him?' you're not helping. Particularly where it comes to education, the answer is WE ALL WILL. Stop. 

No comments: