Project 2025’s education plans: A threat to our future

The Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” report, touted as the blueprint for a future Trump presidency, proposes a radical overhaul of American education that threatens our national security, economic stability and the very foundations of our democracy.

As a veteran with 22 years of military service, program officer at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), former lead on STEM policy initiatives at the U.S. Department of Education, and an Appalachia native, I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative power of education, the innovative minds we need for America, and the challenges we face. Project 2025’s proposals, which do not actually address the challenges in education, would result in increased chaos in the education system and drastically reduce academic outcomes.

Parents should make no mistake: If Project 2025 is implemented, your children will be less prepared for college and technical careers in our rapidly changing world. I’ve developed programs for military children in crisis and STEM education programs across ages. These radical ideas would harm all of our children. Students of all types would suffer academically, socially and psychologically.

Project 2025’s ideas are not grounded in education science or evidence; they reflect radical ideology. We’ve already seen the implementation of Project 2025-like policies in various states, with disturbing results: widespread censorship, rollbacks of student protections, reduced accountability for private schools, and the imposition of specific religious beliefs regardless of students’ backgrounds. These radical changes will decrease competency in literacy, math and science education — the areas where American students must excel to compete at home and globally.

Central to Project 2025 is eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, scattering some vital programs across federal agencies, and sending block grants to the states with little or no oversight. It ignores the already-complex decentralized reality of the education system in our nation. It creates stovepipes that would be highly chaotic, ignores economies of scale, and hurts our most vulnerable students. The proposal to shift toward block grants instead of targeted federal programs is particularly concerning. History shows block grants are more susceptible to budget cuts and harder to monitor for effectiveness. This approach would likely widen achievement gaps plaguing our education system, particularly harming students in poorer states and districts.

Its single-minded quest to destroy the Department of Education shows poor understanding of consequences and education outcomes. Project 2025 introduces a confusing redistribution of educational responsibilities across federal agencies, creating numerous stovepipes to overcome for both students and states.

Our already decentralized education system does not permit economies of scale when purchasing education materials or implementing programs; removing federally sponsored programs would increase this economic inefficiency. Because of this, Project 2025 would reduce education quality or cause overall education budgets to explode, with poorer states and districts suffering.

Project 2025 doubles down on providing school choice and vouchers, funneling critical funding away from public schools. While some argue this would improve education through market forces, little evidence supports this claim. Studies show that charter and private schools, on average, perform no better than public schools. Some charters have positively affected urban and low-income settings, but access is still limited, and results vary. There are good and bad examples of both. The key difference is accountability: Many states already lack oversight of private schools, particularly religious schools, potentially compromising academic integrity. The Project 2025 plan would ultimately increase segregation of students across race, religion and socioeconomic status. Funding parallel school systems is unsustainable; academic standards will drop, or spending will dramatically increase as we try to fix the damage.

While we can all agree that we need to place a greater emphasis on providing alternative career and technical education paths for skill-based employment, the report aims to redefine college education along its own ideological pathways without creating the reforms needed to improve cost and outcomes. They propose removing diversity requirements in college/university accreditation and shielding faith-based institutions from accreditation. They want to privatize student loans and terminate the various loan forgiveness programs that exist today to encourage students to pursue critical public service roles. Under this plan, they would be required to present information only in “American interest,” thus whitewashing what students learn. Our future leaders and business developers need a broad, accurate world perspective, not jingoism.

Education should not be about political ideology; it’s about our children’s futures, our national security and America’s place in the world. We owe it to future generations to resist short-sighted, ideologically driven policies and instead pursue an education system that truly serves all Americans, fostering the knowledge, skills and critical thinking abilities needed for our children to be competitive in a global economy.

Russell Shilling retired as a Navy captain following a 22-year career during which he served as an aerospace experimental psychologist. He has also served as executive director for STEM Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Education and routinely consults on education innovation.