Key Highlights 

• The Decision Comes Amid Declining Student Performance 

• Expansion of School Choice for Native American Students 

• Federal Agencies Directed to Prioritize School Choice Funding 

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order that makes federal funding for school choice programs a priority, according to a White House document obtained by CBS News. The order calls for multiple federal agencies to make funds available for private, charter, and faith-based schools. 

The executive order contains a major provision where the Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, will formulate a plan by which military families will be enabled to use Defense Department funds for school choice. More funding, on the other hand, has been proposed to fund the discretionary grant programs of the Department of Education for the school choice programs. Under the executive order, which President Barack Obama said will be signed on Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services will give guidance for how to use block grants for both private and faith-based institutions. 

 The order also will instruct the education secretary to train the states on how later can draw funds off of the federal funding formula to boost the K-12 scholarship programs. In addition, a new Secretary of the Interior would have to develop a plan that enables relatives whose children attend BIE schools to use federal appropriations for other educational opportunities. The latter would relate to approximately 47,000 American Indian and Alaska Native students currently attending BIE schools. 

This is a legal and budgetary issue. It is not known how much can be shifted around without congressional approval. Additional challenges were recently enacted by a federal judge who stayed the order on one of the related cases, and the Office of Management and Budget is holding off federal aid that may include education grant programs. 

And then there’s this: The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress report is due shortly, and it is expected to show that 40% of 4th graders failed to meet basic reading levels–the highest rate ever recorded. 8th-grade scores are also down, at 70% not proficient in reading and 72% not proficient in math. 

This is an important factor as the White House document really puts emphasis on the fact that “every child deserves the best education available, regardless of their zip code.” Only 14% of K-12 public school funding is federal funding; however, the administration argues that this policy will create more opportunities for students to access schools that best meet their needs.