An executive order from Pres. Donald Trump on K-12 education could have real implications for the state.
The “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” EO directs federal agencies to develop recommendations to eliminate federal funding or support for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory, equity ideology.”
The federal directive is not telling states to change what they are teaching — Minnesota K-12 academic standards are set at the state level and curricula decisions are made at the local level; rather, it is getting the federal government out of the business of funding and sponsoring identity-based initiatives.
“There is no state entitlement to federal funds,” states James Dickey, senior trial and appellate counsel at the Upper Midwest Law Center.
According to Pres. Trump, the premise for this EO is that parents’ trust in America’s schools to “provide their children with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand” has been broken by educational environments that operate “as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination.”
These practices not only erode critical thinking but also sow division, confusion, and distrust, which undermine the very foundations of personal identity and family unity. Imprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation’s children not only violates longstanding anti-discrimination civil rights law in many cases, but usurps basic parental authority.
The federal funding at stake is that which directly or indirectly supports or subsidizes the instruction, advancement, or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology in K-12 curriculum, instruction, programs, activities, K-12 teacher certification, licensing, employment, or trainings.
Discriminatory equity ideology is defined as including stating members of one race or national origin are superior to others, stating an individual’s status as privileged or oppressive, stating that an individual by virtue of his race, color, or national origin bears responsibility or should feel guilt about actions in the past, and stating that the United States is fundamentally racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory.
The EO states it will ensure that K-12 schools “comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights” by enforcing: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, and Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.
It is possible to “enforce existing laws to protect against the creation and ongoing existence of racially hostile learning environments, while simultaneously upholding students’ First Amendment right to receive information that represents varying points of view,” writes the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR).
While the exact mechanisms to effectuate this order are not yet totally clear, below are some examples of Minnesota education policies underwritten by the Minnesota Legislature, the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board, and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights that are likely in violation of the federal directive.
K-12 social studies standards
Set to be implemented fall 2026, the Minnesota Department of Education’s controversial K-12 social studies standards on citizenship and government, history, geography, economics, and ethnic studies instruct students to embrace race-based group identities, portray America as “oppressive” and “imperialist,” and call on young people to “resist” our nation’s fundamental institutions. Woven throughout many of the standards and benchmarks is also the assumption that every “power imbalance” has to do with ethnicity and/or race.
The ethnic studies standards teach that a student’s personal identity is determined by his or her group status and require students to organize to “resist” America’s “systemic” abuse of power and “contemporary systems of oppression.”
- “Identity: Analyze the ways power and language construct the social identities of race, religion, geography, ethnicity, and gender. Apply these understandings to one’s own social identities and other groups living in Minnesota, centering those whose stories and histories have been marginalized, erased, or ignored.”
- “Resistance: Describe how individuals and communities have fought for freedom and liberation against systemic and coordinated exercises of power locally and globally.”
- “Ways of Knowing: Use ethnic and Indigenous studies methods and sources in order to understand the roots of contemporary systems of oppression and apply lessons from the past that could eliminate historical and contemporary injustices.”
A high school ethnic studies benchmark requires students to “examine the construction of racialized hierarchies based on colorism and dominant European beauty standards and values. Examine the construction of hierarchies based on classism, racism, colorism and dominant beauty standards and values.”
History standards and benchmarks divide Americans into racial groups with “dominant and non-dominant” narratives and “absent voices” (systemic racism and power analysis).
A high school geography benchmark requires students to “explain the social construction of race and how it was used to oppress people of color. Assess how social policies and economic forces offer privilege or systematic oppressions for racial/ethnic groups related to accessing social, political, economic and spatial opportunities.”
Teacher licensing
Minnesota teacher candidates completing an initial teacher licensure program — regardless of where they plan to teach — must meet new “Standards of Effective Practice” adopted by Gov. Tim Walz’s Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) in 2023.
According to PELSB, the overhaul of the teaching standards (which now include “Racial Consciousness and Bias”) is necessary because “a teacher must have a foundational understanding of how race and racism are embedded in our institutions and everyday life.”
Some examples of what teacher candidates must “meet” in order to be licensed:
- The teacher “fosters an environment that ensures student identities” including gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation are “affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment.”
- The teacher “understands how ethnocentrism, eurocentrism, deficit-based teaching, and white supremacy undermine pedagogical equity.”
- The teacher “demonstrates the ability to create opportunities for students to learn about power, privilege, intersectionality, and systemic oppression in the context of various communities and empowers learners to be agents of social change to promote equity.”
- The teacher “assesses how their biases, perceptions, and academic training may affect their teaching practice and perpetuate oppressive systems and utilizes tools to mitigate their own behavior to disrupt oppressive systems.”
Discipline quotas
In late 2017, 43 school districts and charter schools were notified by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) that they had consistent racial “disparities” over a five-year period in which Native American students, African American students, and students of color were disproportionately suspended or expelled. MDHR threatened to take them to court if they didn’t agree to change their discipline policies and suspension/expulsion practices in ways that reduced statistical differences.
Dollars at stake
Federal education dollars made up about 10 percent — $1.6 billion — of the state’s K-12 education revenue for fiscal year 2023, the most recently available data. Historically, it has ranged between four to six percent of total revenues, spiking during the COVID years and in 2010. Federal aid is forecasted to drop back down to five percent for 2025 now that the COVID money has expired, and it could drop more pending compliance with Pres. Trump’s EO.
“The basis for removing funding from offending states is federal statute,” says Dickey. “Pres. Trump’s executive order itself does not immediately withdraw any funding. But it creates the mechanism to do so. And current law already provides the mechanism for removing that funding.” Dickey continues:
As the United States Supreme Court held in South Dakota v. Dole, Congress can attach requirements to federal funding so long as it (1) is in pursuit of the general welfare, (2) is done unambiguously, (3) is related to the federal interest in particular national projects or programs, and (4) does not induce states to act unconstitutionally or be overly compulsive. Pres. Trump’s anti-indoctrination order enforces the provisions of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX, and FERPA. At least under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Congressional Research Service has opined that the President has power to withdraw federal funding from activities that violate that law.
The executive order’s message is clear, concludes Dickey. “If Minnesota doesn’t end its critical-race-theory-driven policies, it is likely to cause its own catastrophic funding loss.”
What will Minnesota decide?
Minnesota E-12 Education Revenue by Source, FY 2000-FY 2023
