Trump's Agenda47 on education: Abolish teacher tenure, universal school choice, patriotism

With former teacher Gov. Tim Walz rounding out the Democratic ticket, education could become a talking point in this election.

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has laid out his education policy plans in Agenda47 . Separate from the oft-mentioned Project 2025 , Agenda47 covers Trump's official policy platform on issues including crime, health care and immigration. Agenda47 on education proposes 10 ideas for "great schools leading to great jobs" that range from curriculum requirements to preferential funding for schools with internship programs.

This election comes at a pivotal time for educators, says Jon Valant, director at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. Between the pandemic and the culture wars, teachers have had a rough few years and he says Trump's proposals are unlikely to alleviate the core of those issues.

"All of these are politics more than policy," Valant said in an interview. "My worry is distraction, these types of proposals... they're averting people's eyes from what we should actually be talking about."

The National Education Association , the largest teachers' union in the U.S., has thrown its support behind Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz. NEA President Becky Pringle said Trump's agenda is rooted in his time in office, appointing Betsy DeVos as Education secretary . Pringle said she hopes for an administration that will help teachers get more resources and respect to alleviate the teacher shortage.

"When I started teaching many years ago... I didn't really have a clue every decision that was made about my kids, my classroom, my colleagues, was made by someone who was elected or appointed to some position of power," Pringle said, explaining that they want more educators in public office. "We will have an educator in the White House."

Here are some of Trump's proposed education policies that impact teachers and school systems, as quoted in Agenda47:

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Give preference to schools that abolish teacher tenure

"To reward good teachers, President Trump will implement funding preferences and favorable treatment for states and school districts that abolish teacher tenure for grades K-12, adopt Merit Pay to reward good teachers and give parents the right to vote for the principals who direct their children’s education."

◾ How we got here: Valant called this proposal "an oldie but a goodie for conservative education reform," as it tends to be popular among conservatives. About a decade ago, several states sought to reform teacher tenure by extending the probationary period, but in recent years the push has been more muted as other education battles took the forefront.

◾ In today's context: Valant said union politics come into play here, as teachers unions want to protect tenure as a way to defend against unfounded firings. "This one is primarily the... direct shot at teachers unions," Valant said. He also said teacher recruitment and retention after the last few years is already under stress, and he worries taking away tenure could exacerbate that.

Universal school choice

"President Trump supports universal school choice so that parents can send their children to the public, private, or religious school that best suits their needs, their goals, and their values... President Trump commends Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia for leading the American school choice revolution – and he looks forward to working with other states, as well as the U.S. Congress, to provide for universal school choice for every American family."

◾ How we got here: School choice can include a range of policies that give parents the ability to use public money for private school tuition or homeschooling. Valant said there was once bipartisan agreement on limited school choice policies that allowed for charter schools. But more expansive school choice policies, like providing vouchers that give money to parents for their kids to attend private school, dramatically expanded in the last few years. According to Education Week, proponents of school choice say it helps provide another option for kids in underperforming schools.

◾ In today's context: Many outcomes of expanding school choice policies have yet to be seen. But Valant said vouchers are often not enough to cover tuition costs for private schools, and as a result they mostly end up helping relatively wealthy families, many of whom already have kids in private school. He said it could also change the landscape of school enrollment if wealthy kids end up in private schools and low-income kids end up in public schools. "To me...it feels like incredible risk for the damage they may do to their public education systems."

Create a credentialing body to certify patriotic teachers

"President Trump will reinstate the 1776 Commission , which he originally created but was disbanded by Joe Biden on his first day in office, to ensure America’s children learn the truth about their country’s history and the timeless principles of liberty and equality... President Trump will veto any effort to weaponize or nationalize civics education. And he will create a credentialing body to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values and support the American Way of Life."

◾ How we got here: Trump created the 1776 Commission in November of 2020 as part of the backlash to the New York Times' 1619 Project, which examines the history of slavery in the U.S. That backlash also included conservatives passing "critical race theory" curriculum bans, as a key part of the erupting culture wars. The report the commission produced days before Trump left office excused America's history of slavery and undercut the legacy of the civil rights movement.

◾ In today's context: Political messaging on critical race theory and history curriculums seems to have waned in the last year. Valant said creating a new credentialing body would be politically driven, yet derails from traditional conservative values of stripping down government regulation.

Pringle also said this type of body would be politically driven, and this credentialing body could be made up of unqualified appointees.

"They don't know what our kids need, they haven't trained to be able to teach the diverse learning needs and the skills and meet kids where they are, let alone the preparation of educators," Pringle said. "So we know that anything he does has a political nature to it."

Contributing: Kayla Jimenez, Matthew Brown

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's Agenda47 on education: Abolish teacher tenure, universal school choice, patriotism