Vouchers, Patriotism and Prayer: The Trump Administration’s Plan to Remake Public Education

Linda McMahon, the nation’s secretary of education, says public schools are failing.

In November, she promised a “hard reset” of the system in which more than 80% of U.S. children learn. But rather than invest in public education, she has been working to dismantle the Department of Education and enact wholesale changes to how public schools operate.

“Our final mission as a department is to fully empower states to carry the torch of our educational renaissance,” she said at a November press conference.

To help her carry out these and other goals, McMahon has brought at least 20 advisers from ultraconservative think tanks and advocacy groups who share her skepticism of the value of public education and seek deep changes, including instilling Christian values into public schools.

ProPublica reporters Jennifer Smith Richards and Megan O’Matz spent months reporting and reviewing dozens of hours of video to understand the ideals and ambitions of those pulling the levers of power in federal education policy. They found a concerted push to shrink public school systems by steering taxpayer dollars to private, religious and charter schools, as well as options like homeschooling. The Education Department did not respond to a detailed list of questions from ProPublica.

They also found top officials expressing a vision for the remaining public schools that rejects the separation of church and state and promotes a pro-America vision of history, an “uplifting portrayal of the nation’s founding ideals.” Critics argue the “patriotic” curricula downplay the legacy of slavery and paper over episodes of discrimination.

Since its establishment in 1979, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has served as an enforcer of anti-discrimination laws in schools and colleges around the country. It’s the place parents turn to when they believe their schools failed to protect children from discrimination or to provide access to an equal education under the law.

The Trump administration laid off much of the office’s staff in its first months and prioritized investigations into schools that allegedly discriminated against white and Jewish students and accommodated transgender students. McMahon and the department have framed this as a course correction in line with efforts to be more efficient and curb diversity, equity and inclusion policies from prior administrations. It has left little recourse for those seeking to defend the rights of students with disabilities, students of color and those facing sex discrimination.

In this video, Smith Richards and O’Matz explain how McMahon and her advisers are reenvisioning the nation’s educational system and what that could mean for the future.

Watch the video here.

Nadia Sussman is a video journalist at ProPublica.

Jennifer Smith Richards and Megan O’Matz contributed reporting. Gerardo del Valle contributed cinematography and production. Mauricio Rodríguez Pons contributed graphics. Lisa Riordan Seville was the senior producer.