The Department of Education would be eliminated, student loans would be privatized and federal legislation on parental rights would be pushed under Project 2025, the conservative wish list of policies drawn up for the next Republican president that has generated widespread controversy.
The education portion of the broad platform, put together by a coalition of right-wing organizations that support former President Trump, would fundamentally change the way K-12 and higher education funding and curriculum work.
Trump has sought to distance himself from Project 2025 as it gains attention, with experts saying the far-right platform would cause substantial harm to the federal government on a variety of fronts, including schools and students.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that Project 2025 would be a wrecking ball for public education in this country, and seeks to undermine and radically undermine people’s ability to get a quality education in this country, and then go even further and seek to transform the our public education system and our public schools in extremist ideological spaces,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward.
The project, which was led by the Heritage Foundation, calls for the demolition of the federal Department of Education, long a goal of many conservatives, although observers say the plans do not detail how the system should move forward.
“If the goal is to reduce the size of government, you’re not doing that, you’re just playing with these programs. So to me it seemed like a lot of what they’re doing is just this kind of reorganization in ways that don’t seem well supported or grounded in any kind of justification for why they should work,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Brookings Institution Policy.
The proposals also aim to reorganize programs, including Title I, which supports low-income schools, and have states take over their funding aspects within 10 years. Before states took the reins, the federal government would award them Title I block grants but would not make demands on how the money would be spent.
The plan “sounds to me like the dismantling of Title I itself,” Valant said, adding that he doesn’t believe states would use Title I money if it wasn’t specifically allocated for that purpose.
A Project 2025 account recently posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, seeking to correct information about its policies that it said had been distorted.
The group denies, for example, defending the end of free school breakfasts and lunches for certain students, saying it only condemns “the Biden administration’s decision to threaten schools that do not comply with radical transgender policies”. The same line is used for those who are concerned that the bill will undermine civil rights protections and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
“The Mandate for Leadership demands respect for the civil rights of all Americans, including those who have been censored by the government or have been used as weapons against them. The mandate advocates an end to divisive, race-based, and anti-American propaganda in federal workforce,” Project 2025 said.
The conservative platform also emphasizes that it has nothing in its measures about African-American or gender studies and does not mention banning books about slavery.
It is unclear to what extent Project 2025’s goals would actually be part of a potential Trump agenda, as the former president has said he knows nothing about the wish list created by many of his supporters.
“I know nothing about Project 2025. I haven’t seen it, I have no idea who is in charge of it, and unlike our very well-received Republican Platform, I had nothing to do with it,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social . .
“I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and awful. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
But Democrats are trying to pin the plan on Trump, saying it’s a roadmap for what his presidency would look like if he defeated President Biden in November.
“Project 2025 is the plan of Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican allies to give Trump more power over his daily life, destroy democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office if he wins,” says a page on the campaign website from Biden.
Although Project 2025 largely wants education out of the hands of the federal government, there are several proposals it wants to see implemented in Congress. Big goals would be a parental bill of rights, laws against using students’ preferred pronouns without parental consent, and school choice initiatives.
“They also put forward some ideas that are a little strange because in part there is a sort of theme in the rhetoric that the federal government should be less involved in education. But they kind of, in passing, propose what appears to be a huge program of tax scholarships and federal tax credits,” Valant said.
And higher education is not left out of the conservative agenda, with one of the biggest proposals changing the way student loans are handled.
The group wants to phase out income-based repayment programs and eventually make loan forgiveness impossible under the federal government.
Student loans would be transferred to the Treasury Department, with the ultimate goal of private companies running the show.
“While student loans and grants should ultimately be returned to the private sector (or, at the very least, the federal government should review its role as guarantor rather than direct lender), federal investments in postsecondary education should reinforce economic growth and beneficiary institutions should nurture academic freedom and embrace intellectual diversity,” says Project 2025.
But others argue that would put those seeking a college degree in a difficult position.
“The proposal is extremely concerning in this regard, as it would seek to block certain student loan cancellations that would be devastating in terms of access. It would also bring back rising student loan balances, predatory practices that have really undermined people’s ability to access education and also seek out economic opportunities,” Perryman said.
“Millions of borrowers will be denied relief from their own debt because it seeks to undermine the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which, of course, many people rely on,” Perryman added.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
