Ed. Department Will Give Grants to K-12 Schools That Adopt Right-Wing Curriculum

"U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during an executive order signing ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on July 31, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images President Donald Trump's Department of Education has announced that it will partner with right-wing think tanks and organizations to develop a new curriculum for "patriotic education" in American classrooms."

"Earlier this week, the Trump administration redirected $137 million initially meant for programs aimed at minority students toward what it described as "American history and civics education." Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced Wednesday that the money will be directed toward discretionary grants aimed at K-12 schools that adopt a new curriculum being drawn up by the 250 Civics Education Coalition - a consortium of more than 40 right-wing groups that launched on same day. The goal, McMahon said, was to advance education that "emphasizes a unifying and uplifting portrayal of the nation's founding ideals" in advance of the nation's 250th anniversary in 2026."

"It is not Trump's first crack at instilling the nation's youth with a "patriotic education." In the waning days of his first term in office, Trump unveiled the 1776 Report, which, education columnist Jennifer Berkshire recently noted in The Baffler, "was widely panned by actual historians for its worshipful treatment of the Founding Fathers, its downplaying of slavery, and its portrayal of a century-old 'administrative state' controlled by leftist radicals.""

The Department of Education will work with right-wing think tanks and organizations to develop a new "patriotic education" curriculum for K-12 schools. The Trump administration redirected $137 million originally intended for programs serving minority students to "American history and civics education" discretionary grants. Grants will target schools that adopt a curriculum being produced by the 250 Civics Education Coalition, a consortium of more than 40 right-wing groups. Linda McMahon said the effort aims to emphasize a unifying and uplifting portrayal of the nation’s founding ideals ahead of the 250th anniversary in 2026. The initiative is led by the America First Policy Institute, and it follows the earlier 1776 Report, which historians criticized for glorifying Founding Fathers, downplaying slavery, and framing a century-old administrative state as controlled by leftist radicals.

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