To understand how a second Trump term would affect education in Georgia, consider the major changes outlined in Project 2025, a controversial blueprint for the next Republican presidential administration.
While Donald Trump has distanced himself from the 900-page guide, it was written by many of his former aides and allies under the auspices of The Heritage Foundation. Trump has long praised The Heritage Foundation, saying at a 2022 dinner that the foundation laid “the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do.”
Credit: Courtesy Photo
Credit: Courtesy Photo
Trump’s vice-presidential pick JD Vance has called The Heritage Foundation “the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump.” If elected, Trump and Vance will undoubtedly rely on Project 2025 as the basis for quickly reorganizing the federal government as we know it, to the detriment of Georgia’s taxpayers.
Under Project 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (page 330) would be abolished via a “Department of Education Reorganization Act,” which would “devolve the agency” and cut federal allocations to states by “$17 billion annually” (page 360).
Under Project 2025, student aid is also slashed. For example, “no interest rate subsidies or loan forgiveness” (page 341). The document is unclear as to how this radical action will help further education in our country.
Our well-established, decentralized public school system is the envy of much of the world. But Project 2025 states, “Schools serve parents, not the other way around … the best argument for universal school choice” (page 5).” This view is “nonnegotiable.”
Thus, our public education system would be undercut in favor of a stronger private sector presence, benefiting the wealthy and special interests, including a major increase in our tax money going to religiously affiliated schools.
Under Gov. Brian Kemp and the GOP dominated General Assembly, this far right philosophy has already begun to impact every Georgian and will undercut our public schools. Under the recently signed Senate Bill 233, Georgians in poorly performing schools will receive $6,500 toward private school tuition.
But that amount is only a small fraction of what a quality private school costs. The only Georgians using this voucher would be those who are financially better off and could afford to pay private school without this state contribution. This new law ought to be described as welfare for the upper class.
Furthermore, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” An argument can be made that tax-funded vouchers going to religiously affiliated schools violates this clause.
Public education is not designed to satisfy the political and social views of parents. The goal is to educate children in a nonpolitical, nonpartisan manner while achieving optimum results. Following the wishes of small groups of radicalized parents protesting public education at school board meetings is not objective and would result in extreme politicization of education to the detriment of our children.
To be clear, radical views from the right or left, based on emotion rather than fact, should not be taught in public schools.
Along these lines, Project 2025 falsely contends our public education system promotes “Marxist academics” (page 16). For example, Project 2025 brings up critical race theory, a frequent boogey man of the far right that is completely misunderstood due to erroneous statements on the right. In fact, critical race theory is only taught in a few law schools, not in the K-12 system. The American Bar Association has clearly stated this fact.
When the MAGA conservatives writing Project 2025 state they don’t want “divisive concepts” in schools, they are really saying they don’t want a true and accurate history of Black people in America taught to their children. Divisive concepts is a term popularized and spread by the first Trump Administration.
Richard Woods, Georgia’s state schools superintendent, recently cited divisive concepts as the basis for declining to recommend Advanced Placement African American Studies as a state-approved and funded course. After pushback by conservatives like Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, Woods reluctantly backed off.
But the very fact the highest education elected official in Georgia persisted in stating the state should not sanction an AP African American Studies course says a lot about the radical direction being pushed by Project 2025 and its adherents.
Jack Bernard, a retired business executive and former chair of the Jasper County Commission and Republican Party, was the first director of health planning for Georgia.
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