As the presidential election draws nearer, a conservative roadmap for education reform has some current and former students anxious.
The Republican Party has a long wish list of changes for American schools. High on that list is abolishing the U.S. Education Department and establishing a national “Parents’ Bill of Rights” to give conservatives more control over what their children learn.
But within the GOP, there’s no unanimous agreement on how a Republican president should reform the education system.
One much-discussed approach to overhauling schools can be found in a chapter of Project 2025, a 900-page political blueprint authored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Despite the group’s close ties to his administration, former President Donald Trump, the party’s nominee, has distanced himself from the agenda, opting for a simpler version of a party platform endorsed by delegates at the Republican National Convention.
However, there are notable similarities between the visions. Both plans resonate with longstanding Republican views. They accuse colleges of liberal indoctrination, criticize the high costs of higher education, emphasize parental rights over those of children and educators, and are reluctant to support protections for LGBTQ+ students or other marginalized communities.
Though many of these ideas are far from becoming reality, both conservative plans could significantly impact countless Americans. Project 2025 has already influenced the presidential election, with Democrats using its details to outline a concerning view of conservative educational changes.
As the presidential election approaches and the political climate intensifies, students and families in vulnerable situations are increasingly worried about how these political battles might change their lives.
GOP agenda would deal a major blow to student debt relief
Angel Torrientes and her 16-year-old son live in a one-bedroom apartment in Covina, California, about 20 miles east of Los Angeles. She gets the bedroom, and “he has his space,” she said.
Angel always wanted a job helping people, which led her to nonprofit work. She graduated with a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Antioch University in Los Angeles in 2018. She now has two jobs: one full-time at a youth services nonprofit, and another part-time at a housing company.
Paying $2,000 in rent is tough on her salary. Adding the $80,000 student loan debt makes it even harder.
A federal program meant to aid people in mission-oriented jobs has been a lifesaver for her. Enrolling in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), revamped during the Biden administration, lowered her monthly loan payments by hundreds of dollars.
Project 2025 would end the PSLF. Lindsey Burke, the author of Project 2025’s education agenda, argues that the federal government has misused its debt relief powers, favoring public-sector jobs over private-sector ones and placing undue burden on taxpayers for others’ degrees. The Heritage Foundation said Burke was unavailable for an interview.
Without the financial relief from the loan repayment program, Torrientes isn’t sure how she’d afford rent.
“How do I continue to do everything I need to do if my payments might come back to $500 a month?” she wondered. “Is the object to keep me poor and then complain when I’m on services?”
Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation’s president, said their policy agenda is necessary to counteract federal overreach by progressives.
“Project 2025 is an attempt to restore proper constitutional order to this country,” he explained.
Proposed changes to special education cause alarm
Mia Charles was scared when her son was diagnosed with autism. Living in Brooklyn with her aunt, she didn’t know much about the disorder, which affected as many as 1 in 36 youth in 2020, according to federal estimates.
“It was a big shock,” she said.
The diagnosis came in 2021, about two years after a district court ruled the Trump administration had engaged in an “illegal delay” by not enacting Obama-era regulations to improve racial disparities in special education.
Project 2025 proposes rescinding these rules. It also aims to remove enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by Education Department officials, handing the responsibility over to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a disability rights group, acknowledged that the Education Department has struggled historically to ensure schools comply with IDEA. But shifting enforcement to another federal agency could worsen the situation, she said.
“I don’t think they understand the repercussions on kids,” she noted.
Parents like Charles feel safer knowing federal regulations protect their children’s rights at school.
“It’s not easy to give our kids to the world,” she said.
LGBTQ+ students targeted
Via Lipman recalls being the only gay student at her high school in Naples, Florida, during the era of the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Whenever LGBTQ+ topics came up in class, she felt all eyes turn to her. Though her family was accepting, she found the school environment increasingly hostile.
“You’re very alone,” she said.
Lipman supports the Biden administration’s efforts to codify protections for LGBTQ+ students. The Education Department finalized its rewrite of Title IX, which now includes sexual orientation and gender identity. However, courts have blocked this rewrite in many states and colleges.
Lipman hopes the new guidance will prevail. Recently, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to limit these lower court bans.
However, Project 2025 pushes in the opposite direction. It would allow schools to disclose LGBTQ+ students’ identities to their parents and define sex as “only biological sex recognized at birth.”
“The next Administration should take note of how radical gender ideology is affecting school-aged children,” the policy agenda states.
Lipman, now a 19-year-old sophomore at Stanford University, no longer feels as isolated in her new environment. But she worries about LGBTQ+ students in less welcoming communities.
“I’m a little bit jealous of the people in high school who never had to feel that way,” she said.
