Project 2025 would fundamentally change public education, experts say

The Department of Education would be eliminated, student loans would be privatized and federal legislation on parental rights would be pushed under Project 2025, the conservative wish list of policies put together for the next Republican president that has sparked widespread controversy.  

The education portion of the sweeping platform, put together by a coalition of right-wing organizations that support former President Trump, would fundamentally change how K-12 and higher education funding and curriculum work. 

Trump has sought to distance himself from Project 2025 as it gains attention, with experts saying the far-right platform would do substantial damage to the federal government on a variety of fronts, including for schools and students.

"It is not hyperbole to say that Project 2025 would be a wrecking ball to public education in this country, and it seeks to radically undermine and undercut the ability of people to get a quality education in this country, and then even goes further and seeks to transform our public education system and our public schools into ideological extremist spaces,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward. 

The project, which was spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, calls for demolishing the federal Education Department, long a goal of many conservatives, though observers say the plans don't detail how the system is supposed to move forward.

“If the goal is to reduce the size of government, you're not doing that, you're just sort of playing games with where these programs. So, to me, it looked like a lot of what they're doing is just that kind of that reshuffling in ways that don't feel well supported or grounded in any kind of rationale for why they should work,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. 

The proposals also aim to reorganize programs including Title I, which supports low-income schools, and have states take over their funding aspects within 10 years. Before states take the reins, the federal government would give them block grants for Title I, but would not make requirements on how the money is spent. 

The plan "looks to me like the very dismantling of Title I," Valant said, adding he does not believe states would use money for Title I if it was not specifically allocated for that purpose.

An account for Project 2025 recently posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, seeking to correct information around its policies it said has been twisted.

The group denies, for example, advocating for the end to free school breakfasts and lunches for certain students, saying it only condemns “the Biden administration’s decision to threaten schools that do not comply with radical transgender policies.” The same line is used for those concerned that the project would end civil rights protections and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.  

"Mandate for Leadership calls for respecting the civil rights of all Americans, including those who have been censored by the government or had it weaponized against them. Mandate advocates for the end of divisive, race-based, anti-American propaganda in the federal workforce,” Project 2025 said.  

The conservative platform also emphasizes it has nothing in its measures about African American or gender studies and does not mention book bans about slavery.  

It's unclear how much of Project 2025's goals would actually be part of a potential Trump agenda, as the former president has said he knows nothing about the wish list created by many of his supporters.

“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. 

"I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them."

But Democrats are trying to pin the plan on Trump, saying it is a roadmap to what his presidency would look if he beats President Biden in November.

"Project 2025 is the plan by Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican allies to give Trump more power over your daily life, gut democratic checks and balances, and consolidate power in the Oval Office if he wins," a page on the Biden campaign website reads.

While Project 2025 largely wants education out of the hands of federal government, there are multiple proposals it wants to see implemented in Congress. The big goals would be a parental bill of rights, laws against using a student’s preferred pronouns without parental consent and school choice initiatives.  

“They also put forth some ideas which are a little bit odd because part there's sort of a theme to the rhetoric that says that the federal government should be less involved in education. But they kind of, in passing, they propose what sounds like a massive tax and federal tax credit scholarship program,” Valant said. 

And higher education isn’t left out of the conservative agenda, with one of the biggest proposals changing how student loans are conducted. 

The group wants to phase out income-drive repayment programs and eventually make it impossible for loan forgiveness to happen under the federal government.  

Student loans would move to the Department of Treasury, with an ultimate goal of private companies running the show.  

“Although student loans and grants should ultimately be restored to the private sector (or, at the very least, the federal government should revisit its role as a guarantor, rather than direct lender) federal postsecondary education investments should bolster economic growth, and recipient institutions should nourish academic freedom and embrace intellectual diversity,” Project 2025 reads.  

But others argue this would put those seeking a college degree in a difficult position.  

“The proposal is incredibly concerning in that respect, it would seek to block certain student loan cancelations that would be devastating with respect to access. It would also bring back ballooning balances with respect to student loans, predatory practices that has really undermined the ability of people to both access education and also pursue economic opportunity,” Perryman said.  

“Millions of borrowers will be denied their own earned debt relief because it's seeking to undermine the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which, of course, many people rely on,” Perryman added.