On Wednesday, Donald Trump signed a new Executive Order aimed at restoring classroom safety and reintroducing consistent discipline policies across schools nationwide. The move is designed to ensure that discipline is based on actual behavior, not diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agendas.
The Executive Order directs federal education officials to issue new guidelines to schools, focusing on enforcing discipline fairly and objectively. The White House wants schools to stop using policies that treat students differently based on race and instead discipline all students the same way, depending solely on what they do, not who they are.
The policy shift also empowers the federal government to take action against any school district or education agency that continues to apply race-based discipline practices. These practices, according to the administration, violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bans racial discrimination in programs that receive federal funding. Trump claims, some school systems have used race as a factor in discipline in an effort to close racial disparities in suspension and expulsion rates.
Trump’s new order calls for a report to be delivered to the White House evaluating how DEI-based discipline has affected schools. It will also explore ways to prevent federal dollars from supporting any racially preferential discipline policies, even if they come through nonprofit groups. The report is expected to include proposed discipline models rooted in fairness, safety, and what the administration calls “American values.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has targeted this issue. Back in 2018, following a federal school safety report, he rescinded Obama-era guidance that urged schools to equalize discipline outcomes among racial groups.
With this new Executive Order, Trump is doubling down on his belief that schools should be places of order, not political experiments. His broader education agenda includes reducing federal control over schools, ending vaccine mandates, banning men from competing in women’s sports, and eliminating DEI-based programs in the classroom.
In Trump’s words, it’s about putting “students, parents, and teachers first” and ensuring that every child can learn in a safe and respectful environment.
