Publication | Executive Actions Monitor

    Executive Actions Affecting Education

    2025 Presidential Actions
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    These executive order (EO) summaries are based on a cursory review; our lawyers and policy professionals continue to analyze these documents, and the directives they contain. Among other things, some of the directed actions may present significant constitutional questions that could be litigated and subsequently overturned or blocked.


    June 5, 2025

    Enhancing National Security by Addressing Risks at Harvard University

    A proclamation suspending and limiting the entry of nonimmigrant aliens into the United States for purposes of studying at Harvard University. A fact sheet on the proclamation can be found on the White House website.
     
    April 23, 2025

    Advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education for American Youth

    An EO establishing an Artificial Intelligence Education Taskforce consisting of various agency heads and federal officials to provide for teacher and student education and training on artificial intelligence, as well as directing the creation of AI-related Registered Apprenticeships to facilitate these goals. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    April 23, 2025

    Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy

    An EO revoking prior presidential decrees and providing for enforcement of various federal laws and regulations to ensure equality of opportunity in education, employment and other public affairs. The EO specifically combats disparate-impact liability by directing agency action to repeal, amend and deprioritize enforcement of policies providing for disparate-impact liability. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    April 23, 2025

    Reinstating Common Sense School Discipline Policies

    An EO directing the Secretary of Education and the Attorney General to issue new guidance to state and local educational agencies to discontinue disparate-impact disciplinary policies, to take measures to ensure compliance with this guidance and to provide a report on enforcement and violations of the guidance. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    April 23, 2025

    Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future

    An EO directing the Secretaries of Labor, Commerce and Education to review federal workplace development programs, and to create a report outlining strategies to strengthen workforce training. The EO also directs department heads to expand registered apprenticeships in various industries. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    April 23, 2025

    White House Initiative to Promote Excellence and Innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

    An EO establishing a White House Initiative on HBCUs to increase the educational capacities of HBCUs through public and private sector action. The order also established a President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs consisting of representatives from a variety of industries to advise the president. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    April 23, 2025

    Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education

    An EO directing the Secretary of Education, and other relevant officials, to deny, monitor, suspend or terminate accreditation for institutions of higher education who fail to meet guidance or violate the federal laws against discrimination. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    April 23, 2025

    Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities

    An EO directing the Secretary of Education to enforce requirements that institutions of higher education report significant sources of foreign funding. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    March 20, 2025

    Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States and Communities

    An EO directing the Secretary of Education to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    March 7, 2025

    Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness

    An EO directing the Secretary of Education to revise the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to exclude from the definition of “public service” any organization that engages in unlawful activities, including aiding or abetting violations of federal immigration laws. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    February 15, 2025

    Keeping Education Accessible and Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools

    An EO directing the Secretary of Education to issue guidelines to educational entities regarding their legal obligations related to parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations and equal protection in the context of COVID-19 school mandates. The order also instructs the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to develop a plan within 90 days to end COVID-19 school mandates. This plan must include a process for ensuring that federal funds are withheld from entities that do not comply with the issued guidelines. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    February 5, 2025

    Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports

    An EO stating that it is the policy of the US to rescind all funds from educational programs that deny women and girls fair athletic opportunities, including those that permit biological males to compete in women’s sports. The order outlines several directives to implement this policy, including by requiring all executive departments and agencies to review grants awarded to educational institutions and rescind funding from programs that do not comply with the EO.

     
    February 3, 2025

    Career and Technical Education Month, 2025

    A proclamation declaring February 2025 as Career and Technical Education Month.
     
    January 29, 2025

    Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families

    An EO directing various agencies to expand options for educational choice through federal financial assistance programs. Among other directives, the EO instructs the Secretary of Education to issue guidance on how states can use federal formula funds to support K-12 educational choice initiatives and to prioritize education freedom in its discretionary grant programs. A fact sheet on the EO can be found on the White House website.
     
    January 29, 2025

    Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling

    An EO directing the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Attorney General, to create an Ending Indoctrination Strategy to eliminate federal funding or support for discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools.
     
    January 28, 2025

    Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation

    An EO providing that it is the policy of the US government “that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.” Accordingly, the EO directs several agency actions to comply with this policy, including through immediate appropriate actions to ensure that institutions receiving federal research or education grants “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”