Trump touts his school choice initiatives during ‘back to school’ Rose Garden event

With tens of millions of American kids returning to class, the Trump administration is marking the “back to school” season to champion its wide-ranging and often controversial educational initiatives.

“From the very beginning of our country, Americans have understood that there’s no job more important than teaching our children to become happy, healthy, proud, productive, and flourishing citizens,” said President Donald Trump at a Rose Garden event Monday that included Education Secretary Linda McMahon, K-12 students, parents and educators from around the country.

Monday’s gathering was touted as a celebration of a new school year — but Trump’s opening message quickly turned political.

“Before I got here, the (educational system) was weaponized like everything else in our government,” he said.

Under the Biden administration, added Trump, “extreme ideologies” such as critical race theory and “transgender insanity” were forced upon children as young as 4- and 5-years old.

“Transgender didn’t work. Students were taught that our heroes are villains. The FBI was used to target patriotic parents at school board meetings. And meanwhile, far too many government-run schools failed at the basics.”

Only 30% of American K-12 students, he added, were proficient in reading and math.

“Under the Trump administration, we’re systematically ending every single one of these radical-left betrayals and we’re putting the parents back in charge,” said Trump. “They’re the ones that love our children. They’re the ones that should be in charge.”

The president noted that he’s fought against men competing in women’s sports, but said his opponents continue to support the issue. “I hope they keep doing that because it’s got to be impossible to win a race, politically.”

Every American public school, Trump also warned, is “now on notice” if they tell a child that “they’re trapped in the wrong body. They’re committing child abuse.”

By removing far-left extremism from the classroom, “we’re taking historic action to ensure that every child in America has access to a first-class education,” he said.

Trump also hailed the passage of the Education Freedom Tax Credit that was part of last year’s Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The school choice-friendly Education Freedom Tax Credit allows taxpayers to receive a credit of up to $1,700 for contributions made to a Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO).

SGOs, according to the Education Department, are nonprofits that accept qualified contributions from individuals and use the funds to provide scholarships for education-related services at private, public, or religious schools — including tuition, fees, academic tutoring, and classroom supplies.

Unlike a traditional deduction, which decreases taxable income, the Education Freedom Tax Credit reduces the federal income taxes a person owes dollar-for-dollar.

Trump added Monday that his administration has presided over “the largest ever expansion” of school choice — “and we want every parent to have the power to send their child to a high-quality school that shares their values.”

School choice vouchers: Utah divisions remain

School choice remains a divisive education issue in Utah — and it continues to be litigated in the courts.

In 2025, 3rd District Judge Laura Scott ruled that the state’s Utah Fits All Scholarship Program being utilized by thousands of Utah children was unconstitutional.

Two years earlier, the state was sued by the Utah Education Association and several individual plaintiffs after the school voucher program was enacted.

Scott argued that because the Utah Fits All program is created by the Legislature and a publicly funded educational program, it must satisfy the constitutional requirements applicable to the “public education system” set forth in the Utah Constitution.

The Legislature, added Scott, does not have the authority “to circumvent these constitutional requirements by simply declining to ‘designate’ the program as part of the public education system.”

In response, the Utah Attorney General’s Office filed a brief with the Utah State Supreme Court countering that the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program is in fact constitutional, contending that the Utah Constitution permits the Legislature to both maintain a system of public education — and create additional educational options through statute.

The Utah Supreme Court has not yet issued a decision in the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program case.

Trump: Expanding school choice programs — & making kids healthier

During Monday’s Rose Garden gathering, Trump added that his “beautiful bill” expanded 529 education savings accounts — doubling the annual withdrawal cap from K-12 expense to $20,000 a year and “allowing families to save the money for education at the private or religious school of your choice…And now, for the first time ever, families can also use their 529 accounts to support homeschool education.”

The president also heralded the recently launched “Trump Accounts” — a government-managed investment program for American kids designed to help them invest money for college or other “qualified expenses” such as purchasing a first home or starting a business.

Under the new savings program, every American child born during Trump’s second term (Jan. 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2028) — is eligible to receive $1,000 from the Treasury Department, via Trump Accounts.

“The Trump Accounts is being talked about all over the world,” he said. “It’s very good. It’s very hot.”

Trump asserted that his administration has achieved more for America’s children over the past two years than multiple past administrations combined.

“They haven’t been able to do what we did,” he said.

“After decades of racist policies and illegal quotas, we brought back the merit system into education… Our children will always be judged by their achievements and qualifications, not by the color of their skin or any other reason.”

Prayer in public schools is also now protected, he said. And updated food pyramids and reformed vaccine recommendations are protecting kids and making the nation healthier, he claimed.

“We’re strongly requesting — even telling people — when you get your shots for your young child, and this has to do with preventing autism, that you go to the doctor for five small shots instead of one big massive shot.”

Public health experts have voiced concerns that spacing out shots puts children at an increased risk of becoming infected with a vaccine-preventable disease before they return for their next visit, The Associated Press noted.

Trump’s suggestion of a connection between child vaccines and autism has also been challenged.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a physician, wrote on X that vaccines for childhood diseases “are safe and effective and will not cause autism,” calling any suggestion otherwise “wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker.”

And former Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Mandy Cohen has warned the altered messaging regarding child vaccines could erode trust and “risks endangering children by driving down vaccination rates and leaving kids vulnerable,” according to CBS News.

“There is overwhelming evidence that vaccines do not cause autism but do save lives,” she said.

Education Secretary McMahon: Trump protecting students from “radical experiments”

In her Rose Garden remarks Monday, McMahon saluted Trump’s initiatives to “return to common sense in American education.”

The education secretary said that poor national school performances recorded during the Biden administration prompted Trump to demand a “hard reset to our education system.”

“And under his leadership, we are delivering it,” added McMahon. “We are taking very deliberate and thoughtful steps to return education to the states.

“This school year, American parents and students have so much to be excited about because the Trump administration is steering education back to its rightful focus: serving students so that they are prepared for successful futures.”

McMahon said the administration “has cut billions” in funding for “radical DEI programs,” while redirecting those dollars to teachers, classrooms and results.

“Key decisions that once sat with bureaucrats here in Washington, D.C., are moving to where they belong — to the hands of educators, parents, and local leaders who know these children best.”

Trump’s leadership, she said, has ensured that parents are “the first decision makers” in children’s lives.

“And through the Education Freedom Tax Credit, President Trump has delivered the largest national expansion of education freedom in history for over 50 million eligible children — giving parents unprecedented freedom to choose the path that is best for their children.”

The Trump administration, McMahon added, is protecting parents’ rights to know what’s happening inside the walls of the children’s schools. “After the Biden administration allowed schools to secretly transition students without parents’ knowledge, President Trump is defending parental rights like never before.”

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump claimed that children were undergoing transition-related surgery during the school day.

But there is no evidence that a student has ever undergone gender-affirming surgery at a school in the U.S., nor is there evidence that a U.S. school has sent a student to receive such a procedure elsewhere, NBC News reported.

And a 2024 Pew Research Center poll found that nearly 70% of public K-12 teachers who have been teaching for more than one year said topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity “rarely or never” come up in their classrooms.

Half of all teachers polled, including 62% of elementary school teachers, said elementary school students should not learn about gender identity in school.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order blocking, for now, a California state law that bans automatic parental notification requirements if students change their pronouns or gender expression at school.

The decision comes after religious parents and educators challenged California school policies aimed at preventing schools from outing students to their families, according to PBS News.

McMahon said Monday that her department has “exposed” states such as California for widespread offenses.

“If they subject children to radical experiments and sideline parents,” she said, “they will lose their federal funding.”