WASHINGTON—The Department of Education has found the California Department of Education guilty of violating the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act for its policies pressuring school officials to conceal information about student gender identity.
The news marks the latest instance of Gavin Newsom&#8217;s California defying federal guidance from the White House on the issue of transgenderism. Posied for the next presidential election, Newsom has attempted to present himself as a moderate on the issue, but his state continues to be a radical outlier.
An investigation conducted by the Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) found that California&#8217;s polices, laws, and practices created &#8220;powerful state directed pressure&#8221; for schools to adopt policies that led to FERPA noncompliance, effectively forcing schools to withhold information from parents, violating FERPA, which gives parents the right to access their children&#8217;s educational records.
For example, one California law explicitly bans schools from requiring parents to be informed of their child&#8217;s &#8220;gender transition.&#8221;
“Our investigation found that the California Department of Education egregiously abused its authority by pressuring school officials to withhold information about students’ so-called ‘gender transitions’ from their parents,&#8221; explained Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
McMahon blames California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and his &#8220;failed leadership&#8221; for the matter, saying that under his watch, school personnel have even bragged about facilitating ‘gender transitions,’ and shared strategies to target minors and conceal information about children from their own families.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1035013" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://drwordpress.dailywire.com/news/california-violated-federal-law-by-hiding-childrens-gender-transitions-education-department-finds/president-elect-trumps-nominees-for-upcoming-administration-meet-with-lawmakers-on-capitol-hill-7" rel="attachment wp-att-1035013"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1035013" class="wp-image-1035013 size-large" src="https://drwordpress.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GettyImages-2189084812-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2189084812-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2189084812-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2189084812-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2189084812.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>U.S. President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee to be Secretary of Education Linda McMahon arrives in the Russell Senate Office Building on December 09, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;While the Biden Administration turned a blind eye to this deprivation of parental rights and endorsed the irreversible harms done to children in the name of radical transgender ideology, the Trump Administration will fight relentlessly to end it,” she promised. “Children do not belong to the state — they belong to families. We will use every available mechanism to hold California accountable for these practices and restore parental rights.”
During a press call with reporters, a senior Education Department official shared that the investigation found a systemic problem of schools maintaining secret records of child gender support plans. That official told The Daily Wire that the investigation also uncovered that a number of administrators were soliciting AERIES, a student information software system, to find ways to hide gender information from parents via the parent portal used to register children for classes.
California has been offered the opportunity to &#8220;voluntarily resolve its FERPA violations&#8221; by sending a notice to all school administrators and superintendents. That notice should, among several items, let school officials know that &#8220;gender support plans&#8221; and similar documentation are education records under FERPA and subject to parental inspection, that there is no &#8220;unofficial records&#8221; exception to FERPA and none of the state&#8217;s laws should be interpreted to undermine federal law — and that violations of FERPA may cause the California education system to risk loss of federal financial assistance.
Emails dating back to 2022 show staff in California discussing changing students&#8217; names without their parents&#8217; knowledge, using different names for children in front of their parents, and even overriding the &#8220;Parent Portal&#8221; to choose what parents could or could not see, according to the Education Department.
<div id="attachment_1035017" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://drwordpress.dailywire.com/news/california-violated-federal-law-by-hiding-childrens-gender-transitions-education-department-finds/day-three-of-world-economic-forum-wef-2026-4" rel="attachment wp-att-1035017"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1035017" class="wp-image-1035017 size-large" src="https://drwordpress.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GettyImages-2256933619-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2256933619-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2256933619-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2256933619-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2256933619.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Gavin Newsom during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
At least 300 students in the state were put on &#8220;Gender Support Plans&#8221; in 2025, <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2025/04/15/exclusive-blue-state-schools-facing-trump-admin-investigation-helped-hundreds-of-kids-change-their-gender-last-year/">The Daily Caller News Foundation reported,</a> and many of those children were put on these plans without parental knowledge or consent.
In one particularly alarming case that the Education Department shared, a mother sued her daughter&#8217;s school after she found out that school officials had convinced her young daughter to identify as a transgender boy. School officials told the girl not to tell her mother and helped the girl to learn how to make chest binders, restricting her chest so that she would look flat-chested.
School administrators told the mother that they could not tell her about all of these goings-on due to their &#8220;parental secrecy policy,&#8221; the Education Department said.
Schools that followed FERPA and refused to hide gender issues from parents were &#8220;aggressively targeted&#8221; by California, the Education Department investigation found. When Chino Valley Unified School District’s school board adopted a parental notification policy in July 2023, state officials acted quickly to put an end to the policy, saying that children have a constitutional right to &#8220;privacy from their parents&#8221; — and that telling parents about their child&#8217;s gender identity issues might cause the child to suffer.
The Education Department has repeatedly asked the California Department of Education to issue guidance clarifying that parents have a right to see “gender support plans” under FERPA, but the California Department of Education has repeatedly refused these requests, though it says in grant agreements that it will follow federal law.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 BREAKING: Ben Shapiro grills California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) over whether he believes that girls cannot become boys and boys cannot become girls
Newsom refuses to answer the question
Newsom says: &#8220;Yeah, I just, well, uh, I think, uh, I&#8217;m for the grace of God. Yeah.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/w0Gc7cKvec">pic.twitter.com/w0Gc7cKvec</a>
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanSaavedra/status/2011956634466099656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
The move comes only two weeks after Newsom sat down for an interview with The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ben Shapiro, one in which Shapiro grilled the governor about whether he believes that girls can actually become boys, or boys can actually become girls.
Newsom refused to directly answer the question, ultimately telling Shapiro: &#8220;Yeah, I just, well, uh, I think, uh, I&#8217;m for the grace of God. Yeah.&#8221;

Day Three Of World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026

California Violated Federal Law By Hiding Children’s Gender Transitions, Education Department Finds

California

Department of Education

Linda McMahon

The Department of Education referred its Minnesota transgender athletes investigation to the Justice Department on Monday, a major step toward pulling funding for the Democrat-run state&#8217;s education and high school sports agencies.
Minnesota has so far refused to negotiate with the Trump administration on the issue after the federal government found that the state violated Title IX by allowing boys to compete against girls. Now, Minnesota is close to losing its federal funding from the Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services, The Daily Caller <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2026/01/26/minnesota-trump-administration-title-ix-education-department-health-human-services/">reported</a>. The DOJ referral comes as the Trump administration targets Minnesota in its immigration enforcement operation and over allegations of massive fraud.
&#8220;As Minnesota reels from a fraud scandal, @GovTimWalz is fighting to keep men in women’s sports,&#8221; Education Secretary Linda McMahon <a href="https://x.com/EDSecMcMahon/status/2015868775153782813">wrote</a> on X. &#8220;Now, he’ll have to make his case in court.&#8221;
The Education Department and HHS <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-and-us-department-of-health-and-human-services-find-minnesota-violated-title-ix">said</a> last September that their investigation found the Minnesota State High School League was in violation of Title IX by allowing boys who identified as girls to compete against girls in high school sports. Minnesota was the center of a sports controversy last spring when a male pitcher <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/girls-softball-team-sparks-outrage-after-suspected-male-pitcher-leads-them-to-state-tournament">dominated</a> the girls&#8217; state softball tournament. The Trump administration also said that Minnesota allowed boys to compete against girls in Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, lacrosse, track and field, and volleyball.
The Minnesota Department of Education has argued that Title IX &#8220;requires schools provide transgender students with the right to participate in…athletics in a manner consistent with their gender identity&#8221; and that “transgender and gender nonconforming students should be afforded the opportunity to use the restroom of their choice&#8221; &#8212; positions that directly contradict the Trump administration&#8217;s interpretation of the law.
“Despite repeated opportunities to comply with Title IX, Minnesota has chosen defiance – continuing to jeopardize the safety of women and girls, deny them fair competition, and erode their right to equal access in educational programs and activities,” McMahon told The Daily Caller.
&#8220;The Trump Administration will not stop until accountability is delivered for Minnesota’s students,” she added.
Minnesota leftist Attorney General Keith Ellison <a href="https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2025/04/22_EO_TitleIX.asp">sued</a> the Trump administration over the president&#8217;s executive order on keeping men out of women&#8217;s sports, arguing that the Trump administration is &#8220;bullying vulnerable children.&#8221; Ellison said last year that Trump does not have the authority to override Minnesota state law that allows trans-identifying athletes to compete in sports categories that match their gender identities.
Trump signed an executive order in February banning boys and men from competing against female athletes, threatening to strip federal funding from states that don’t obey the order. The Trump administration has also gone after Maine and California for violating Title IX protections for women and girls.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz

Trump Admin Moves Closer To Yanking Federal Funding For Minnesota Over Trans Athletes Probe

Donald Trump

Minnesota

Social Issues

Transgender

Transgender Athletes

Trump Administration

U.S.

The university that produced Nathan Hale, one of America&#8217;s earliest and most revered heroes, apparently can’t tell the difference between men and women. 
A civil rights complaint filed Thursday by the watchdog group Defending Education accuses Yale University of violating Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order protecting women from radical gender ideology. The <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Yale-OCR_letterhead_1.22.26.signed.pdf">complaint</a>, first obtained by The Daily Wire, alleges that the historic institution does not take sufficient steps to ensure that women are able to have privacy in their bathrooms without intrusion from gender-confused men.
“Yale University is one of the United States’ most prestigious educational institutions. It also happens to be one of the largest recipients of federal funding of any institution of higher education in the country,&#8221; Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall Perry told The Daily Wire. &#8220;But despite its rich history and longstanding prestige, Yale seems content to follow the path of its woke sister ivies in prioritizing gender identity over biological sex, in apparent violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.&#8221;
The complaint was filed with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights and alleges that the university’s bathroom policies violate Title IX, which bans sex-based discrimination at federally funded institutions. 
Defending Education wants the Education Department to step in and ensure that women have access to their own bathrooms at Yale. 
“Yale’s bathroom policies likely violate Title IX because they provide male and gender-neutral bathrooms on some coed undergraduate dormitory floors without also providing female bathrooms on the same dormitory floors,” the complaint filed by Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall Perry says. “Yale has converted many campus bathrooms into ‘gender inclusive’ bathrooms.”
According to a map <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=41.31882761989977%2C-72.94422212541701&amp;z=13&amp;mid=19iHelKu2YL3A7smpJmerSSuVfD-Ohr4">posted</a> by the university, Yale has dozens of “all gender” bathrooms throughout its sprawling New Haven, Connecticut, campus. Some of these “gender inclusive” bathrooms are located in residential buildings. 
“With bathrooms designated as women’s, men’s, or gender-inclusive, students have the autonomy over their living arrangements and can prioritize roommate choice without worrying about bathroom location,” Yale <a href="https://housing.yale.edu/undergraduate-housing/room-draw/additional-resources">notes</a> on its website. “Students can be assured that a suitable bathroom will be accessible within their college, even if it’s not on their specific floor.”
This appears to indicate that some dormitory floors have male and “all gender” bathrooms, but not female bathrooms. This is confirmed by a “Trans@Yale Survival Guide” <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20251213175155/https://sites.google.com/yale.edu/transatyalesurvivalguide/survival-guide/bathrooms">that states</a> “most bathrooms throughout Yale&#8217;s housing facilities are gender-neutral and shared amongst students in any given entryway.”
Defending Education said in its complaint that they believe this violates President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/">executive order</a> cracking down on transgender ideology and Title IX guidance from the administration. 
The complaint also took issue with Yale’s interpretation of Title IX and its policies toward “gender identity.” For example, Yale’s “Policy Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct” <a href="https://oiea.yale.edu/frequently-asked-questions">treats</a> gender-identity as a protected class. Yale’s Title IX office also responds to claims of both “sex- and gender-based discrimination.” According to Defending Education, Title IX should only apply to sex discrimination. 
&#8220;Yale is attempting to have its cake (nearly $900 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2024), and eat it too (by instituting bathroom, harassment, and non-discrimination policies that pick sides on the gender identity debate). Too much federal funding is at stake to ignore malfeasance and bad legal takes like Yale&#8217;s,&#8221; Perry told The Daily Wire.
The Biden administration attempted to include gender-identity as a protected class under Title IX, but was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-supreme-court-blocks-bidens-title-ix-rules-that-allowed-men-in-womens-sports">rebuffed</a> by the Supreme Court. That came after dozens of Republican-led states challenged the policy.

cti072325yalenontaxable

Historic University Accused Of Violating Trump’s Transgender Policy

Bathrooms

Title IX

Yale University

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration is probing the California Community College Athletic Association over allegations that its transgender policy violates Title IX, The Daily Wire can first report.
The Title IX Special Investigations Team, a joint project of the Department of Education and the Department of Justice, has initiated an investigation into the association over its policy stating that “a trans[gender] female&#8230;or non-binary student-athlete who has completed at least one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment&#8230;may compete on a women’s team.”
That policy caused at least three female athletes to be discriminated against on the basis of sex, according to a complaint submitted to the Office of Civil Rights, since a male athlete was allowed to participate on the women&#8217;s volleyball team and use the women&#8217;s locker rooms at one of the member colleges during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
“The fact that a Community College Athletic Association has a ‘Transgender Participation Policy’ is a stunning indictment of our culture,&#8221; said Kimberly Richey, the assistant secretary for civil rights. &#8220;Women’s sports are for women. Yet California’s Governor Gavin Newsom — despite admitting the truth on a podcast — continues to put ideology above the safety of and fairness for his own students.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1028413" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-admin-probes-california-association-for-violating-trans-policy/us-justice-sports-transgender-lgbtq-discrimination" rel="attachment wp-att-1028413"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1028413" class="wp-image-1028413 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2255538637.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks outside the US Supreme Court on January 13, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)</div>
The complaint also alleges that the California Community College Athletic Association ignored female students&#8217; when they raised concerns about the impact that male students have on female sports.
DOJ and the Education Department say that the association has an obligation to uphold Title IX&#8217;s sex-based protections, given that it receives federal financial assistance in California.
&#8220;The Trump Administration will not tolerate policies that erase women’s rights,”says Richey. “The Title IX SIT looks forward to investigating this matter to ensure every woman has equal access to educational programs and athletic opportunities—because fairness and safety are non-negotiable.”
DOJ and the Education Department created the Title IX Special Investigations Team in April 2025 in order to expedite enforcement of its investigations into incidents like this. In fact, the team&#8217;s first investigation was actually into the California Department of Education.
Richey&#8217;s comments about Newsom referenced the California governor&#8217;s remarks on the issue of fairness in women&#8217;s sports: in March 2025, when Charlie Kirk was a guest on Newsom&#8217;s podcast, Newsom distanced from the notion that men should be in women&#8217;s sports — something he has championed for years — calling the concept &#8220;deeply unfair.&#8221;
“Would you say no to men in female sports?”Kirk asked the California governor.
“I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that,” Newsom responded. “It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.”
The remark caught many politicos and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle by surprise, given that Newsom has celebrated his state&#8217;s law allowing boys in girls&#8217; sports, and additionally celebrated when conservative groups failed to repeal that very law.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases dealing with men in women&#8217;s sports and spaces, West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox. The results of the cases will decided whether 27 states can keep laws in place protecting women’s privacy in bathrooms and other spaces.
&#8220;As we await the Supreme Court’s rulings in Little v. Hecox and State of West Virginia v. B.P.J., we remain steadfast in enforcing Title IX as it was intended, rooted in biological reality to ensure fairness, safety, and equal access to education programs for women and girls across our nation,&#8221; Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said on the steps of the court on Tuesday.
&#8220;As President Trump has made clear,&#8221; she added, &#8220;America is in its Golden Age, one where female students and athletes have equal access to fair and safe competitions and female-only intimate spaces, free from divisive and discriminatory ideologies.&#8221;

Screenshot 2026-01-15 at 11.41.12 AM

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Probes California Association For Trans Policy

Gavin Newsom

The Club For Growth is launching a major effort to back a school choice proposal in Mississippi, the organization told The Daily Wire. 
The conservative organization launched an ad campaign on Sunday in support of the Mississippi Education Freedom Act, a bill that would create a scholarship program for low-income families to send their kids to private schools. The campaign urges Mississippians to contact lawmakers to support the bill, which was introduced last week by Republicans in the state House. 
“Mississippi kids shouldn’t be left behind by a system that doesn’t care about them. And parents shouldn’t be relegated to the sidelines. They know what school is best for their child. Tell Legislators: Do right by our kids. Pass education freedom,” Club for Growth <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFhdvbR98jM">urges</a> in the ad.  
The ad first launched on the Sunday political shows in Mississippi and will continue to air this week on Fox News and conservative radio shows. 
The <a href="https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2026/dt/HB/0001-0099/HB0002IN.pdf">Mississippi Education Freedom Act</a> was introduced on January 7 by House Speaker Jason White and Representative Jansen Owen. The bill would create scholarship opportunities for up to 12,500 students to get state funding to help pay for the costs of attending private school or for other approved educational expenses. The scholarships would be prioritized for lower-income students and could become more broadly available over time. 
“Mississippi benefits when every child can access an education that fits his or her needs, circumstances and aspirations. The ‘Mississippi Education Freedom Act’, expands learning options for eligible students by allowing parents to direct state-supported funds to qualifying educational expenses and approved education service providers,” the bill’s text reads. “This act promotes academic achievement, parental choice, workforce readiness, and efficient stewardship of public funds.”
The bill would also make it easier for parents to transfer their students from one public school district to another and expand opportunities for charter schools. 
Education Secretary Linda McMahon came out in support of the Mississippi House proposal.
“I’m thrilled to see Mississippi advancing an ambitious school choice expansion in their 2026 session. Giving parents options is essential to improving education outcomes &amp; ensuring every child finds the learning environment that best fits their needs,” she <a href="https://x.com/EDSecMcMahon/status/2009735951510048973">said</a> in a post on X. 
As President Donald Trump has moved to dismantle the Department of Education, his administration has pushed for states to implement school choice measures that allow parents to get funding to send their kids to private schools. 
In 2025, the Club for Growth spent over seven figures across the country backing school-choice proposals or expansions in Georgia, Idaho, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-conservative-org-launches-campaign-to-pass-school-choice-in-two-red-states">Indiana</a>, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.

Close up of desks in the classroom.

New Campaign Promotes School Choice For Low-Income Families In Red State

Conservative Org Launches School Choice Effort In Red State

Education

Mississippi

School Choice

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon addressed federal funding and &#8220;education micromanagement&#8221; at a White House Press Briefing on Thursday.
&#8220;We&#8217;re not ending federal support for education,&#8221; McMahon said. &#8220;We&#8217;re ending education micromanagement. The Department of Education does not educate a single student.&#8221;
At Thursday&#8217;s press briefing, McMahon further clarified the misconception currently held by many Democratic lawmakers — including Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz — that President Trump plans to defund education. McMahon reiterated that the Trump administration is focused on ending the bureaucratic, non-educational agency that has failed to improve national reading or math scores for decades.
Walz had <a href="https://x.com/Tim_Walz/status/1990913615117857010?utm_source=chatgpt.com">posted to X</a> on Tuesday, &#8220;Gutting the Department of Education and defunding our public schools threatens that promise for every child in the nation.&#8221;
McMahon initially responded to Walz with a <a href="https://x.com/EDSecMcMahon/status/1990964078689341579">post</a> of her own, writing, &#8220;The good news for you, Governor, is that federal funding for education CONTINUES to flow.&#8221;
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also defended the administration&#8217;s plan to close the Department of Education, pointing out the recent furlough of 90% of the agency&#8217;s staff as proof that the department is unnecessary.
&#8220;The Department of Education furloughed 90% of its staff, and it did not affect schools whatsoever,&#8221; said Leavitt.
With only 10% of its staff still working, institutions from preschool to college remained fully open and all teachers received their paychecks, making &#8220;it painfully obvious that American families do not need a Department of Education.&#8221;
Education Secretary Linda McMahon joined Leavitt at the podium to reinforce the message.
&#8220;The Department of Education does not educate a single student,&#8221; said McMahon.
She rejected claims that Trump wants to &#8220;defund education,&#8221; clarifying that the administration&#8217;s goal is to return control of schools to the states — not eliminate education itself.
The Department of Education was established by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. McMahon argued that after decades of federal oversight, students have yet to see the benefits.
&#8220;Since the 1970s, math and reading scores are down in public schools,&#8221; said McMahon. &#8220;It&#8217;s clear throwing money at a broken system does not work.&#8221;
McMahon cited troubling statistics: Only 3 out of 10 students can read proficiently at the third-grade level, college students are collectively $1.7 trillion in debt, and about half of college graduates work in fields unrelated to their expensive degrees.
In an effort to reset American education, McMahon launched a 50-state tour to meet with students, teachers, parents, and community leaders to identify what&#8217;s working on the ground.
Her conclusion so far: &#8220;The best education comes from those closest to the student. Education is local, and it should be overseen locally.&#8221; She added that President Trump shares this view and campaigned on returning control of education to the states.
While McMahon is working to shrink the Department of Education, former President Joe Biden&#8217;s Education Secretary sought to expand it.
Biden&#8217;s Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona requested <a href="https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/overview/budget/budget25/summary/25summary.pdf">$82.4 billion</a> in discretionary funding for the Department of Education, reflecting a 4% increase from the previous year.
Unlike Cardona, McMahon did not request a budget increase. Instead, she focused on tightening the department&#8217;s operations, reporting earlier this year that the department uncovered nearly <a href="https://x.com/EDSecMcMahon/status/1927740692186427588">$90 million</a> in misused taxpayer dollars.
The Trump administration anticipates further savings from reducing redundancies by streamlining agency administration and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-plan-to-dismantle-education-dept-gains-momentum?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump%E2%80%99s+Plan+To+Dismantle+Education+Dept+Gains+Momentum">shifting crucial Department of Education responsibilities</a> to other federal agencies.
Ultimately, McMahon hopes that through this plan, &#8220;America&#8217;s next generation will look back on the work we&#8217;ve carried out [and be] thankful for an education system that prioritizes students over bureaucracy.&#8221;

FILE PHOTO: 21st day of U.S. government shutdown

‘Education Micromanagement’: Linda McMahon Addresses Key Education Issue

News

Tim Walz

The Trump administration on Tuesday rolled out a new plan to “break up the federal education bureaucracy&#8221; as part of President Donald Trump’s promise to dismantle the Department of Education. 
The plan shifts responsibility for several legally required programs from the Education Department to the State, Labor, and Interior Departments, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services. Each of those agencies has signed an interagency agreement with the Education Department to administer the programs.
&#8220;The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission. As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state through our 50-state tour, empower local leaders in K-12 education, restore excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify these reforms.”
“Together, we will refocus education on students, families, and schools – ensuring federal taxpayer spending is supporting a world-class education system,” McMahon added. 
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://www.dailywire.com/shop" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.dailywire.com/shop" data-sk="tooltip_parent">30% off razors &amp; DW Shop, 25% off Candle Club, 7–10% off Mayflower—bundles, gifts, &amp; last-chance holiday shipping</a>
The announcement came after the Education Department posted a video on social media depicting former presidents, from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, discussing the need for dramatic educational reform. Trump campaigned on eliminating the Education Department and moving education primarily back to the states. 
“We’re going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs, and this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it’s a common-sense thing to do, and it’s going to work. Absolutely, it’s going to work,&#8221; Trump said earlier this year when he signed an executive order to dismantle the Education Department.
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The clock is ticking&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/Go0UlCdkrK">pic.twitter.com/Go0UlCdkrK</a>
— U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/usedgov/status/1990807480109011438?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The partnership between Education and Labor will <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/fact-sheet-department-of-education-ed-and-department-of-labor-dol-elementary-and-secondary-education-partnership-112465.pdf">include</a> the administration of elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education programs. This will consist of more than a dozen programs related to education, ranging from grants for local education agencies to education for homeless children. 
The Department of the Interior will administer additional Indian Education programs, while HHS will oversee a program providing child care for parents who are in school and will supervise the work of the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation.
“Medical education must incorporate timely, rigorous science on nutrition, metabolism and all medical subjects. Secretary Kennedy is leading the charge with American medical schools and HHS will encourage foreign medical schools through this partnership,” said HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill.
In partnership with the State Department, the Education Department will establish the International Education and Foreign Language Studies Partnership to administer specific research, foreign language, and business programs. 
Trump&#8217;s plan was opposed by the National Education Association, a teachers union closely tied to Democrats. Beck Pringle, the association&#8217;s president, said the announcement was &#8220;cruel&#8221; and &#8220;shameful.&#8221;

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-EDUCATION

Trump’s Plan To Dismantle Education Dept Gains Momentum

Politics

An Obama-appointed federal judge ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration violated the free-speech rights of furloughed U.S. Department of Education employees by altering their out-of-office email messages to blame &#8220;Democrat Senators&#8221; for the ongoing government shutdown.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., said that nonpartisanship is the foundation of government service, and commandeering Education Department employees&#8217; email accounts to broadcast a partisan message erodes it.
&#8220;Political officials are free to blame whomever they wish for the shutdown, but they cannot use rank-and-file civil servants as their unwilling spokespeople,&#8221; wrote Cooper, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, had sued over the email messages last month.
Cooper ordered the Education Department to immediately remove a line blaming &#8220;Democrat Senators&#8221; for the shutdown from the email messages of workers who are AFGE members. The judge said he would order the department to remove the messaging from all employees&#8217; accounts if it is technologically impossible to parse out accounts of union members.
The shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, entered its 38th day on Friday with no end in sight. The lapse in funding has led to many federal workers missing paychecks and millions of Americans losing food stamp benefits, and could force airlines to cut up to 20% of flights due to a lack of air traffic controllers.
Democrats in the Senate are refusing to pass a budget bill that does not include the extension of expiring health insurance subsidies. The Trump administration has blamed Democrats for the funding lapse.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has aired videos in airports blaming Democrats for disruptions to airport security, and many agencies have posted similar messages on their websites.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Obama-Appointed Judge Bars Education Department Emails That Blame Shutdown On Democrats

Barack Obama

Democrats

federal judge

Government Shutdown

The Trump administration renewed its push to return control of education to the states after new data revealed continued declines in the reading, math, and science scores of high school seniors nationwide.
The National Center for Education Statistics released the &#8220;Nation&#8217;s Report Card&#8221; for 12th-grade students on Tuesday, finding that reading levels had reached new lows and math scores were the worst in 20 years. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon <a href="https://x.com/EDSecMcMahon/status/1965370143657148681">said</a> that the numbers confirmed a “devastating trend” of American students testing at “historic lows.”
“Despite billions in federal spending and countless well-intentioned programs, the achievement gap between students is widening, not shrinking. And this trend did not begin with COVID, it goes back a decade,” she said in a video message posted on X, noting that 78% of high school seniors were not proficient in math and another 65% were not proficient in reading in 2024. 
“Clearly, success is not about how much money we spend, but who spends it. That’s why President Trump and I are committed to reversing course and returning control of education to the states so local communities with parents in the driver&#8217;s seat can better innovate, adapt, and tailor education to their students’ needs,” she said. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Today’s <a href="https://twitter.com/NAEP_NCES?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NAEP_NCES</a> 12th grade math and reading and 8th grade science scores confirm a devastating trend: American students are testing at historic lows.
Nearly HALF of America’s high school seniors are testing at below basic levels in math and reading. The status quo is… <a href="https://t.co/FMxGX5cu66">pic.twitter.com/FMxGX5cu66</a>
— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) <a href="https://twitter.com/EDSecMcMahon/status/1965370143657148681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The National Report Card is an ongoing assessment of what American students know about various subjects, providing a nationwide snapshot of trends and measuring student performance.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that the average reading score for 12th graders in 2024 was three points lower than in 2019 and 10 points lower than in 1992. For <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g12/">math</a>, scores were down three points compared to 2019 and five points compared to 2019. Science <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/science/2024/">scores</a> for seniors also decreased by four points compared to 2019. 
Educational achievement has also dropped for students in lower grades. In January, the statistics showed that around 70% of students in grades four and eight were not proficient in math or reading. 
Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) said that the poor education numbers were endangering national security and would have economic consequences. 
“Low academic skills don’t just hurt grades, they weaken our economy, workforce, and national security. Without strong foundations in these core subjects, America’s freedom and economic competitiveness will be in jeopardy,” he said. “Republicans and the Trump administration are prioritizing students — working to ensure every child gains the skills essential to be successful. This is crucial to America’s success.”
While moving to reduce the size and scope of the Education Department, the Trump administration has encouraged states to adopt school choice policies to allow parents to use state dollars to help cover tuition costs at private schools.

First Lady Melania Trump Hosts White House Task Force On AI Education

‘Nation’s Report Card’ Finds Reading Scores For High School Seniors At Record Lows

Mathematics

Science

President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to strip federal funding from California school districts that defy his administration’s transgender policies.
The Trump administration interprets Title IX as requiring schools to maintain separate bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams for males and females, a stance that directly conflicts with California state law allowing students to use facilities and join teams based on gender identity.
“Any California school district that doesn’t adhere to our Transgender policies, will not be funded,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115066339632774609">wrote</a> on Truth Social early Thursday morning. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump’s ultimatum comes after the Justice Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-president-means-business-trump-admin-sues-california-over-transgender-athlete-policy">sued</a> California last month for continuing to allow transgender-identifying males to compete in female sports. The suit argued that California was depriving young girls of athletic opportunities. 
“Title IX was enacted over half a century ago to protect women and girls from discrimination. The Justice Department will not stand for policies that deprive girls of their hard-earned athletic trophies and ignore their safety on the field and in private spaces,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. “Young women should not have to sacrifice their rights to compete for scholarships, opportunities, and awards on the altar of woke gender ideology.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
The California Department of Education was allocated around $44 billion in federal funding for fiscal year 2025.
Aside from California, other school districts across the country could also lose funding over transgender policies, including multiple districts in Northern Virginia. The Education Department <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-places-five-northern-virginia-school-districts-high-risk-status-and-reimbursement-payment-status-violating-title-ix">said</a> this week that the Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County school districts are all in danger of losing federal funding for violating Title IX. 
“States and school districts cannot openly violate federal law while simultaneously receiving federal funding with no additional scrutiny,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said. “The Northern Virginia School Divisions that are choosing to abide by woke gender ideology in place of federal law must now prove they are using every single federal dollar for a legal purpose.”
In February, Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/">executive order</a> saying that “it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-vows-large-scale-fines-on-california-after-boy-wins-girls-track-events">Trump Vows &#8216;Large Scale Fines&#8217; On California After Boy Wins Girls&#8217; Track Events</a>

Sir Keir Starmer visit to Washington DC

Trump Issues Ultimatum: California Schools Must Follow Transgender Policies Or Face Consequences

Executive

gender ideology

Sports

A federal judge struck down the Trump administration&#8217;s efforts to crack down on DEI programs at federally funded schools, claiming the administration bypassed procedural requirements. 
Maryland District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/federal-judge-rules-education-department-race-dei-crackdown-unlawful.pdf">ruled</a> on Thursday against <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dear-colleague-letter-sffa-v-harvard-109506.pdf">guidance</a> from the Education Department warning schools not to implement DEI programs that discriminate against white or Asian students. Gallagher&#8217;s ruling also applied to the Education Department&#8217;s demand that schools certify they were not discriminating through DEI programs.  
“This Court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue in this case are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair,” Gallagher wrote. “But, at this stage too, it must closely scrutinize whether the government went about creating and implementing them in the manner the law requires. Here, it did not. And by leapfrogging important procedural requirements, the government has unwittingly run headfirst into serious constitutional problems.”
<a class="c-link" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-7240">End of Summer Sale &#8211; Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“The administration is entitled to express its viewpoints and to promulgate policies aligned with those viewpoints. But it must do so within the procedural bounds Congress has outlined. And it may not do so at the expense of constitutional rights,” the Trump-appointed judge added. 
The ruling was prompted by a lawsuit from the American Federation of Teachers and other teacher groups. The guidance was first blocked back in April. 
In response, the Department of Education said that it would continue to protect students from racial discrimination across the country. 
“While the Department is disappointed in the judge’s ruling, judicial action enjoining or setting aside this guidance has not stopped our ability to enforce Title VI protections for students at an unprecedented level,” a spokesman <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/14/federal-judge-declares-education-departments-attempt-to-bar-diversity-programs-unlawful-00510621">said</a>. “The Department remains committed to its responsibility to uphold students’ anti-discrimination protections under the law.”
The original guidance from the department was issued in February, and state education agencies were requested to certify compliance in April. It sought to end the practices of some schools to bypass the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action and to end racially-based DEI school programs. The guidance suggested that schools could lose funding if they continued to promote DEI.  
“American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families. These institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia,” <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dear-colleague-letter-sffa-v-harvard-109506.pdf">the guidance read</a>. “The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.”

Key Speakers At America First Agenda Summit

Judge Deals Major Blow To Trump’s Efforts To Purge DEI From Public Schools

Judge Deals Blow To Trump Admin Efforts To Crackdown On DEI At Public Schools

Courts

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Education Secretary Linda McMahon was interrupted during an appearance at a conservative event on Wednesday by protestors blasting circus music and audio insults played over nearly a dozen Bluetooth speakers spread throughout the room.
The incident occurred during McMahon’s appearance at the 47th National Conservative Student Conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by Young America’s Foundation.
As McMahon attempted during a sit-down interview with YAF president and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, McMahon was interrupted mid-sentence by loud audio of a man who, among other things, accused the secretary of being a “corrupt billionaire.”
In response, Walker quipped that “apparently, the [Chinese Communist Party]” didn’t like her remarks, and that “they’re cutting into our technology.”
The audience laughed, and Walker and McMahon attempted to move on. But the interruptions did not end there.
Later, a recording of a woman ranting about “fat geriatric[s]” elicited an audible gasp from the audience. Students began to whisper to one another as the interruptions, which threatened to drown out the secretary’s comments, continued seemingly at random and from different corners of the auditorium.
Nevertheless, Walker and McMahon plowed ahead with their scheduled discussion, speaking over the chaos as YAF staffers scrambled to find and confiscate the personal audio devices.
“This is so weird,” one attendee whispered.
Event organizers collected an estimated eight Bluetooth speakers found under tables and chairs.
“This afternoon, a joyless, sore-loser leftist sought to silence the 13th Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, during her fireside chat with YAF President Governor Scott Walker at our National Conservative Student Conference,” YAF spokesman Spencer Brown told The Daily Wire.
Brendon Poteet of the University of Missouri, Columbia, told The Daily Wire that, &#8220;The first time it happened, I thought it was just a silly little YAF thing … and then it kept on happening again, and then it happened at my table.”
“I was just sitting, second row, and we noticed the Secret Service Agent inching closer and closer towards us,” he added. “That&#8217;s when I was like, &#8216;this is kind of ominous.&#8217; And one of the people found a note attached to one of the speakers.&#8221;
The Post-it note the student says he found bears the Latin phrase “Vox clamantis,” which translates to “a voice crying out.”
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-957857" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/signal-2025-08-06-142354-668x576.jpeg" alt="" width="668" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/signal-2025-08-06-142354-668x576.jpeg 668w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/signal-2025-08-06-142354-300x259.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/signal-2025-08-06-142354-768x662.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/signal-2025-08-06-142354-1536x1325.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/signal-2025-08-06-142354.jpeg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px" /></div>
“I didn&#8217;t think it was sabotage [at first],” said Isaac Hoilman of the University of North Carolina Asheville. “I thought the wires were messed up or something. But when it started playing clown music, I thought something was up.&#8221;
Finally, as McMahon discussed Trump’s hiring and managerial choices, Bluetooth speakers began to blare Julius Fucik’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B0CyOAO8y0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entrance of the Gladiators</a>,&#8221; an 1897 military march that has become the  unofficial theme song for clowns and circuses.
YAF staff instructed students on the way out of the session to take their personal belongings so that “the CCP and the teachers’ unions can’t interrupt us anymore.”
The National Conservative Student Conference, which began on Monday, had not previously experienced any technical issues or interruptions.
Olivia D’Angelo is a reporter studying journalism at the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.

Leftist Agitators Disrupt Trump Official At Student Event In Washington, D.C.

Protest

Scott Walker

Washington D.C.

Menu