With the Democratic nomination seemingly firmly in Kamala Harris’ hands, the 2020 presidential election can now turn to political questions. While Donald Trump has feigned rejection of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 in favor of his vague party platform, it is clear that Project 2025 will dictate his administration’s priorities if he is elected.
When it comes to K-12 and higher education, Project 2025 is a bold plan that will plunge America’s education system into disaster. It aims to undo decades of efforts to create equitable learning spaces and systems. If implemented, it would dismantle important protections for American schoolchildren and students and undo all federal government efforts to improve America’s schools.
For this reason, you should be alarmed.
Abolition of the Ministry of Education
Perhaps the most alarming recommendation of Project 2025 is the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education. The authors argue for decentralizing education decision-making and funding and shifting those responsibilities entirely to the state and local levels. Although education in America has traditionally been controlled by states and local governments, federal support programs like the Office for Civil Rights have been critical to ensuring equal access to opportunity, especially for low-income students and students of color. Not to mention programs like Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which have been critical to supporting underserved student populations and encouraging states to raise expectations for student ability to learn.
Project 2025’s proposal to place these programs under the Department of Health and Human Services or eliminate them entirely is a targeted attack on decades of progress in educational equity.
Making such recommendations in the context of the COVID-19 recovery, when student achievement has declined rapidly and absenteeism rates have soared, is all the more troubling. Now is the time when schools need more support, resources, and guidance to improve. Stopping federal school improvement efforts would be a disaster for students, teachers, and parents alike.
Attacks on public schools
Under the guise of “school choice,” the authors of Project 2025 are seeking to undermine public education. We are already seeing this agenda playing out in Republican states, where voucher programs and education savings accounts are being rapidly expanded, costing state governments millions of dollars and largely supporting wealthy parents who already enroll their children in private schools.
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With enrollment declining due to demographic shifts, now is hardly the time to divert public funds to unaccountable private schools. Doing so would put our weakest schools—those meant to serve our most disadvantaged students—at risk of school closure. We are not knee-jerk opponents of private and charter options for families, but the research makes it very clear that these alternative options work best in a context where there is strong oversight and accountability. Ironically, this is the exact opposite of the approaches advocated in Project 2025 and being adopted in Republican states. Everything we know about school choice tells us that these reforms will not work, and will put enormous financial pressure on local public schools to boot.
Undermining access and diversity in higher education
Project 2025’s proposals for higher education are equally troubling. The plan would roll back federal student loans and focus on private loans, which we know are particularly exploitative of students of color and low-income families. This move could severely limit access to higher education for these students, who too often rely on federal loans to afford college.
Furthermore, the emphasis on promoting “intellectual diversity” and reducing the influence of accreditation agencies risks undermining efforts to create inclusive and supportive universities. Accreditation agencies play an important role in maintaining academic standards and ensuring that institutions provide safe and equitable learning environments. Weakening their oversight will certainly open the door to discriminatory practices and lower quality of education.
The stakes couldn’t be higher in this November election. Project 2025’s proposals, if implemented, would dismantle federal support systems, divert funding from public schools, and undermine efforts to create diverse and equitable learning environments. We must remain vigilant and vigorously reject attempts to reverse the progress we have made and ensure that every student, regardless of their background, has full opportunities to thrive. The future of our education system depends on it.
Royel M. Johnson is an associate professor of education at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California and author of The big lie about race in America’s schools.
Morgan Polikoff is a professor of education at the USC Rossier School of Education and co-director of the USC EdPolicy Hub.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author.
