The FFRF Action Fund strongly opposes Trump’s recent executive order, misleadingly titled “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families,” which directs the federal government to redirect taxpayer funds to pay for private school voucher programs.
With yet another Christian nationalist effort to use public funds to finance religious education and fulfill another promise of Project 2025, Trump’s order harms public education and disrespects state-church separation.
Trump’s executive order greenlights federal regulations allowing public money to flow into unaccountable private schools, many of which openly discriminate based on religion, LGBTQ-plus status, disability and other factors. Furthermore, the executive order arms the Department of Education to neglect public schools in order to support state efforts to advance private school vouchers. It also directs the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior to “review any available mechanisms” to redirect taxpayer funds toward private religious schools.
This action recklessly seeks to support a failed state-level experiment all over the country. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has vocally opposed private school voucher programs for many years, and recent trends have confirmed what voucher proponents used to deny: These programs redirect public school funds to pay for wealthy families’ private school tuition without providing any academic benefit to student recipients. The lie of “school choice” has been exposed.
Just yesterday, the National Center for Education Statistics released the 2024 “report card” for American schools, showing significant recovery after the major educational disruption due to Covid, as well as ongoing concerns in both math and reading. Public schools need strong federal support more than ever, but instead President Trump is cashing in for the benefit of his wealthy supporters, with total disregard for public school students and taxpayers around the country.
Voucher programs are fundamentally un-American. In practice, the vast majority of voucher funds go to sectarian religious schools. The U.S. Constitution’s framers considered, discussed and vehemently opposed taxpayer-funded indoctrination. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson both argued that forcing taxpayers to pay for religious education was inappropriate government coercion. Jefferson called it “sinful and tyrannical.” Diverting public funds to pay for religious education violates the religious freedom of every taxpayer.
Furthermore, the lion’s share of voucher funds pays for the tuition of children who would have gone to private schools anyway. The “school choice” premise is a mirage, especially with universal vouchers. Additionally, many students can’t transfer to a private school even if they wanted to — students in rural areas typically have no access to private schools.
This order will be aided by far-right figures like Russ Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, who is likely to play a major role in a second Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget. Vought will serve as the primary enforcer of this executive order and Trump’s broader agenda. The Trump executive order follows the blueprint of Project 2025: defunding public education and eroding the foundational principle of secular governance.
“Trump’s executive order is about gutting our public schools to benefit private, religious, institutions,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, president of the FFRF Action Fund. “Trump and Vought are weaponizing federal agencies to benefit their oligarchical allies at the expense of all Americans.”
The FFRF Action Fund urges Congress to assert its constitutional oversight authority and oppose this executive overreach. We will continue fighting against efforts to turn our public education system into a slush fund for fundamentalist indoctrination and personal financial gain.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations, and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.