Former President Trump called for school principals to be elected by students’ parents in a new campaign video released on Thursday.
“More than anyone else, parents know what their children need,” Trump said. “If any principal is not getting the job done, the parents should be able to vote to fire them and select someone who will. This will be the ultimate form of local control.”
The former president listed off his priorities for education in the latest of a series of video messages released by his 2024 campaign as he ramps up his third presidential bid after an unusually slow start.
Trump vowed to reward states and school districts that implement principal elections, as well as those that abolish tenure for K-12 teachers, reduce the number of school administrators and adopt a parental bill of rights.
“When I’m president, we will put parents back in charge and give them the final say,” he said, adding, “We will give our kids the high-quality, pro-American education they deserve.”
Education has increasingly become the latest front of the so-called “culture war,” as Republicans accuse public schools of teaching concepts related to race, gender identity and sexual orientation that they deem inappropriate.
Trump promised to cut federal funding for schools that teach such content in Thursday’s video message. He also called for civil rights investigations into schools that engage in race-based discrimination and vowed to “aggressively pursue potential violations” of First Amendment religious protections.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is widely viewed as Trump’s biggest potential competition for the Republican nomination in 2024, has frequently led the charge on Republicans’ education battles in the last year.
Most recently, DeSantis rejected an Advanced Placement African American studies pilot program for Florida high schools, dismissing it as “indoctrination.”