Trump Education Nominee Won't Say If Schools Will Lose Funding Over Ethnic Clubs

Executive orders from President Donald Trump have threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that are not “patriotic.”

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Education, refused to answer on Thursday during a Senate confirmation hearing if public schools would be in violation of an executive order and be at risk of losing their federal funding if they host groups or clubs based on a race or ethnicity.

On Trump’s first day back in office, he signed an executive order that dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government. Federal employees who worked on DEI programs were placed on administrative leave, governmental organizations like the Smithsonian Institution shut down its diversity program, and West Point Academy disbanded its ethnic groups because they believed that these programs ran afoul of Trump’s anti-DEI crusade.

He also signed orders that aimed to promote what his administration called “patriotic education” and threatened to withhold federal school funding from public schools that teach that the country is “fundamentally racist, sexist or otherwise discriminatory.”

At McMahon’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) repeatedly asked her if local schools that had clubs, groups and classes organized around a racial or ethnic group would suffer the same fate as the federal programs that have already been axed.

“Would they risk funding if they have clubs that students can belong to based on their ethnic or racial identity?” he asked.