The Trump administration has spent the past year dismantling federal DEI initiatives, narrowing Title IX enforcement to biological sex, expanding state flexibility and school choice, and redirecting education funding toward literacy, workforce preparation and classroom instruction under Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The Trump administration is entering the 2026-27 school year with a substantially different federal education framework, one that places greater authority with states and parents while scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion programs and changing how federal civil rights rules are enforced.
President Donald Trump has made reducing Washington’s role in education a central priority of his second term, with Education Secretary Linda McMahon overseeing many of the administration’s most consequential policy changes.
Those efforts include terminating or redirecting DEI-related programs, revising Title IX enforcement, granting states more freedom over federal education funding, expanding school-choice incentives and changing standards governing racial discrimination and school discipline.
The administration describes the broader effort as a return to academic achievement, parental authority, merit and local control, according to a Just the News report.
One of the most visible changes has involved federal diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The Education Department has eliminated DEI-related initiatives across numerous programs and removed or archived hundreds of guidance documents, reports and training materials associated with DEI shortly after Trump returned to office.
The administration has also canceled or redirected billions of dollars in grants that previously financed programs addressing issues including systemic racism.
Federal officials have argued that race-based preferences can violate requirements for equal treatment and have sought to replace such policies with standards centered on individual merit.
That approach has extended to higher education.
Agreements reached with institutions including Columbia University and Brown University required changes to DEI programs, admissions and hiring practices and race-based scholarship policies.
The Education Department has also pursued merit-based standards in admissions and other educational decisions.
Another change involved federal funding for Minority-Serving Institutions.
The department reprogrammed discretionary funding after the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel determined that eligibility requirements based on race violated the Constitution.
McMahon has repeatedly argued that federal education spending should support equal treatment and measurable academic outcomes rather than racial preferences or ideological programs.
The administration has simultaneously expanded parental and state authority as part of Trump’s broader effort to reduce federal control over schools.
A major component is the Education Department’s “Returning Education to the States” initiative, which allows participating states greater flexibility in deciding how federal education money is used.
McMahon pointed to national academic performance while explaining the rationale for the change during a White House Rose Garden event Monday.
“What a travesty it is that Americans have invested $3 trillion in a federal Department of Education meant to improve student outcomes, and yet only 30% of our students can read or do math proficiently,” McMahon said.
“This is why President Trump demanded a hard reset to our education system, and under his leadership, we are delivering it. We are taking very deliberate and thoughtful steps to return education to the states.
Iowa became the first state to receive such a waiver in early 2026.
The arrangement allowed Iowa to consolidate federal funding streams and redirect nearly $8 million that otherwise would have gone toward compliance costs into classroom spending over four years.
Louisiana subsequently received similar flexibility, consolidating more than $18 million through 2029.
By summer 2026, six states had obtained Returning Education to the States waivers, collectively moving more than $100 million away from federal administrative requirements.
The administration has also expanded Ed-Flex authority to a record number of states. The program gives participating states and school districts greater latitude to waive certain federal education requirements without first obtaining individual approval from Washington.
McMahon has characterized those policies as transferring decision-making authority from federal officials to families, teachers and state and local governments.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are restoring parents’ sacred role as the first decision makers in their children’s lives. Children belong to their parents, not the federal government,” McMahon said at the Rose Garden event.
Trump reinforced that message.
“We’re putting the parents back in charge,” the president said. “They’re the ones that love our children. They’re the ones that should be in charge.”
Federal policy has also shifted significantly on Title IX.
McMahon directed the Education Department to enforce Title IX according to biological sex after a federal court vacated Biden-era regulations that had expanded protections based on gender identity.
Title IX, enacted in 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in schools and other education programs receiving federal funding.
The department returned to the 2020 Title IX regulatory framework and issued guidance applying sex-based distinctions to athletics, bathrooms and other intimate facilities.
A settlement involving the University of Pennsylvania required the institution to restore athletic titles to female competitors and end competition policies based on gender identity.
McMahon later praised a Supreme Court ruling affirming the authority of states to exclude biological males from women’s athletic competitions.
The administration’s education agenda has also expanded alternatives to traditional public-school enrollment.
Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts Act established the Education Freedom Tax Credit, which the administration describes as the largest nationwide expansion of education freedom to date.
Under the program, taxpayers can receive a credit of as much as $1,700 for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations.
Those organizations can use the money to help families cover expenses including tuition, tutoring, books and other education costs associated with public, private and charter schools.
Nearly 52 million students are eligible under the program, and more than 30 states have either opted in or indicated that they intend to participate.
Charter schools have received additional federal support as well.
The Education Department announced a record $500 million through the Charter Schools Program.
At the same time, money previously connected to DEI initiatives has been redirected toward literacy programs based on the science of reading, workforce development and direct classroom support.
McMahon has said those investments are intended to emphasize measurable academic results while giving families greater control over children’s education.
Federal civil rights enforcement has undergone another major restructuring.
In 2026, the Education Department rescinded disparate-impact provisions from its Title VI regulations.
The change shifted federal enforcement toward requiring evidence of intentional discrimination rather than relying solely on statistical disparities among racial groups.
New federal guidance also instructs school districts to administer discipline consistently without using a student’s race as a factor for the purpose of achieving predetermined racial outcomes.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights subsequently opened investigations into school systems accused of using race in disciplinary decisions.
One investigation involved a district in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where officials allegedly directed employees to consider race when determining student discipline.
The Education Department maintains that the revised approach restores equal treatment while allowing educators to address misconduct without pressure to produce particular demographic results.
Taken together, the initiatives represent a broad restructuring of the federal government’s role in American education.
The administration has cut billions of dollars from education programs and grants while redirecting other resources toward priorities including literacy, charter schools, workforce preparation and school choice.
Rather than using federal agencies to prescribe a uniform approach to curriculum and education policy, Trump and McMahon have sought to transfer more decision-making authority to states, school districts and parents.
As students return to classrooms this fall, those changes are becoming increasingly visible across the education system, from the rules governing federal funding and civil rights enforcement to the policies affecting athletics, admissions, discipline and parents’ ability to choose where and how their children are educated.
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