President Donald Trump is implementing sweeping changes to America’s education system that look remarkably familiar to anyone watching Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the past few years.
The former rivals have found common ground on one of the most contentious battlefields in American politics – the nation’s schools and universities.
And Donald Trump took a page from Ron DeSantis’ education playbook that has the Left terrified.
Trump acknowledges DeSantis’ education leadership
The signs of their aligned educational vision became clear when Trump invited DeSantis to attend his March signing ceremony for an executive order targeting the Department of Education.Â
This gesture signaled not only a political détente between the former primary opponents but recognition of DeSantis’ pioneering work in education reform.
“Many states, including Florida, are leading in this area, and they now have a partner in the Oval Office who prioritizes parents’ fundamental role in choosing what’s best for their children,” Harrison Fields, a Trump administration spokesman, said.
After easily defeating DeSantis in the Republican primary, Trump appears to be implementing many of the education policies that made the Florida governor a conservative champion.
Florida blazed the trail for education transformation
DeSantis turned Florida into a laboratory for conservative education policies that are now going national under Trump, including:
- Supreme Court cases that could allow parents to opt children out of lessons they oppose on religious grounds;
- Withholding federal funding from schools with diversity programs;
- Promoting “patriotic” curriculum focusing on Constitutional originalism;
- Expanding school choice programs and vouchers for private education; and
- Targeting liberal ideas about race and gender in classrooms.
Christopher Rufo, who has advised both Trump and DeSantis on education policy, noted that while Trump “opened up the culture war at the end of his first term” with a 2020 executive order targeting left-wing ideas about race, it was DeSantis who effectively “zeroed in on education” as a political focal point.
“Far be it for President Trump to be so foolish as to ignore a good idea,” Tiffany Justice, a founder of Moms for Liberty, the influential parental-rights group that helped shape DeSantis’ education agenda, said.
State vs. Federal power in education reform
The emerging parallel between Trump and DeSantis’ education approaches also highlights a key difference: the limits of federal power in education compared to state authority.
When it comes to college reform, Trump has taken aggressive steps against institutions like Harvard and Columbia to eliminate diversity programs.Â
But his efforts face legal challenges since federal control over universities is limited.
Meanwhile, DeSantis was able to swiftly transform New College of Florida, a small public liberal arts school, by appointing new trustees who dismantled diversity programs, abolished gender studies, and refocused the institution.
“The local and state level is where liberal policy is passed and promulgated more than any other level,” Richard Corcoran, a DeSantis ally who became president of New College after serving as Florida’s education commissioner, said.
In K-12 education, states provide 90% of public school funding, set learning standards, and regulate the teaching profession.Â
The federal government contributes less than 10% of funding and is legally restricted from dictating curriculum.
DeSantis leveraged Florida’s state power to enact dramatic changes, including:
- Making education savings accounts available to every Florida student, regardless of family income;
- Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund private schools, for-profit virtual learning, and homeschooling;
- Restricting discussions of race, gender, and sexuality in classrooms;
- Banning lessons on “white privilege” and discussions of LGBTQ identities in early grades; and
- Creating a new civics curriculum emphasizing Constitutional originalism.
The courts could nationalize Florida’s model
While Trump faces more constraints than DeSantis did, the Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, could nationalize elements of Florida’s education model through several pending cases.
Last month, the court heard arguments from Maryland parents seeking to opt their children out of classroom readings with LGBTQ themes, citing religious values.Â
Their lawyer acknowledged they aimed to set a precedent applicable to any school content parents might object to on religious grounds.
If the Supreme Court rules in their favor, schools nationwide could face similar pressures that Florida schools experienced under DeSantis’ curriculum transparency laws.
Andrew Spar, president of Florida’s largest teachers’ union, warned that nationwide parental opt-out rights could put extreme pressure on schools beyond what Florida has experienced: “If a school is obligated to notify you on anything and everything, where does that end?”
Liberal resistance faces uphill battle
Despite the challenges Trump faces in implementing education reform through the executive branch, conservative education policies appear to be gaining momentum.
Left-wing education groups have had limited success resisting DeSantis in Florida but have fared better against Trump’s federal initiatives.
Last month, three judges temporarily halted enforcement of some elements of the president’s education agenda, saying the government overstepped federal authority over schools and colleges.Â
The judges also noted that attempts to ban DEI efforts without clearly defining them might violate free speech.
But these cases are still proceeding, and many may eventually reach the Supreme Court, where the conservative majority could solidify Florida’s education model across the country.
As Trump continues his second term, it appears increasingly clear that his administration is taking education cues from DeSantis’ Florida playbook – turning what was once a regional experiment into national policy.
