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Education Department cuts $600M in taxpayer dollars for ‘divisive’ training programs

The Department of Education (DOED) is pulling the plug on the use of taxpayer dollars to fund “divisive” and “inappropriate” training programs for educators, announcing hundreds of millions in cuts as the Trump administration cleans house on “wasteful” spending within the federal government.

On Monday, the DOED announced the cancelation of $600 million dollars in grants funding programs that teach educators “divisive ideologies” such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the “instruction on White privilege and White supremacy.”

The latest spending cut comes just days after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk to cut government spending, announced the slashing of over $370 million in DEI training programs from the Education Department.

The grants that were terminated included funding for training programs “requiring practitioners to take personal and institutional responsibility for systemic inequities (e.g., racism) and critically reassess their own practices,” according to the DOED.

DOGE PUTS DEI ON CHOPPING BLOCK WITH TERMINATION OF OVER $370M IN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRANTS

The Department of Education terminated $600 million in DEI funding. (Getty Images)

Also slashed in the cost-cutting sweep was funding to one program that provided “spaces for critical reflection to help educators confront biases and have transformative conversations about equity,” and another that worked on “building historical and sociopolitical understandings of race and racism to interrupt racial marginalization and oppression of students in planning, instruction, relationship building, discipline and assessment.”

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PROBING SOME VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS OVER GENDER IDENTITY POLICIES

“Less money on DEI nonsense means more money to make sure teachers know how to teach students to read! #MakeAmericaLiterateAgain,” Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice said in a post on X.

The move also received a thumbs up from Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, who expressed her support on social media.

The Department of Education building. (iStock)

According to the DOED, many of the grants also included teacher and staff recruiting strategies that were “implicitly and explicitly based on race.”

“The Department of Education has canceled $600 million in ‘teacher training grants,’ which do little more than promote left-wing race and gender ideologies,” Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said of the announcement. “It’s time to shut it all down.”

Elon Musk speaks during an event in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (AP Images)

President Donald Trump’s administration has made axing DEI programs in education a focal point of their efforts to reform the department, ordering all 50 state education departments last week to remove DEI policies within 14 days or risk losing federal funding.

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The president has signaled his intention to eventually abolish the department during his term to allow individual states to make decisions about their own education departments.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

February 18, 2025
DOGE puts DEI on chopping block with termination of over $370M in education department grants

In just 48 hours, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed a whopping $370 million in taxpayer dollars being spent on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the Department of Education.

DOGE, the newly formed department led by Elon Musk to purge spending by the federal government, revealed in a post on X that they terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department.

According to DOGE, the grants totaled $373 million.

One grant was reportedly funding training for teachers to “engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets,” the cost-cutting department said.

DOGE SLASHES OVER $100M IN DEI FUNDING AT EDUCATION DEPARTMENT: ‘WIN FOR EVERY STUDENT’

Elon Musk has been slashing costs at the Department of Education. (Getty Images)

Over the past several weeks, DOGE has announced the canceling of various streams of funding to DEI in education, including $9.7 million for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills.”

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WARNS THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST REMOVE DEI POLICIES OR LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING

The latest spending sweep comes just days after DOGE announced the termination of another 89 DOE contracts totaling $881 million, which included more than $100 million in DEI grants.

The Department of Education building is seen on Aug. 21, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

“Hurrah” Heather Higgins, CEO of Independent Women’s Voice, wrote in a post on X in response to the latest DOGE cuts.

The Education Department has been cracking down on DEI practices in education, ordering all 50 state education departments last week to remove DEI policies within 14 days or risk losing federal funding.

President Donald Trump, right, speaks as Elon Musk listens in the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Brandon)

The letter said the “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions” will no longer be tolerated.

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“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,” the letter reads.

Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

February 17, 2025
Department of Education probing some Virginia school districts over gender identity policies

The U.S. Department of Education is launching an investigation into several school districts in northern Virginia over allegations of refusing to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order banning gender identity policies.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights opened an enforcement investigation into the school districts, according to Fox 5 DC.

The districts include Arlington County Public Schools, Alexandria City Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools and Prince William County Public Schools.

This comes after the conservative nonprofit America First Legal filed a complaint accusing several schools in Virginia of keeping policies promoting gender identity in place in violation of the president’s mandate.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WARNS THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST REMOVE DEI POLICIES OR LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING

The U.S. Department of Education building is seen on August 21, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

The complaint argues that the districts are violating Title IX of the higher education act of 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and Trump’s executive order titled “Ending Racial Indoctrination in K-12 Schools,” which called on some federal agencies to develop a plan to eliminate the “instruction, advancement or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology” in K-12 schools receiving federal funding.

America First Legal stresses that the federal government prohibits “instruction, advancement or promotion of gender ideology” — as mentioned in Trump’s order — and argues that allowing biological boys to use girls’ restrooms and locker rooms is covered in this language.

TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON SAYS SHUTTING DOWN DOE WOULD ‘REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION’

The U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

The group described the districts named in the complaint as radical and lawless and that the districts would rather “deny biology than teach it and one family agrees.”

Arlington Public Schools said it stands firmly behind its non-discrimination policies and remains committed to providing safe and welcoming schools for all students, according to Fox 5 DC. The district said it follows all federal laws with respect to Title IX.

Prince William County Public Schools said it will “cooperate with the investigation and remains committed to providing a welcoming, nurturing learning environment where all of our students feel safe and supported mentally, physically, and emotionally.”

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on February 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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Alexandria City Public Schools said it “will respond to this investigation in accordance with applicable law.” Loudoun County Public Schools made a similar statement.

Fairfax County Public Schools said its policies “align with state and federal anti-discrimination laws and binding court precedent.”

February 17, 2025
Department of Education warns that public schools must remove DEI policies or lose federal funding

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The Department of Education is warning state education departments that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding.

A letter from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights was sent to the departments of education in all 50 states, notifying them that they have no more than 14 days to comply. The letter was shared on social media by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education, said in the letter.

The letter said the “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions” will no longer be tolerated.

TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON SAYS SHUTTING DOWN DOE WOULD ‘REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION’

The U.S. Department of Education building is seen in Washington, Nov. 18, 2024. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

It argues that a Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which found that affirmative action in Harvard University’s admission process violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, should apply more broadly.

“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,” the letter reads.

DEMS SPAR OVER DOGE CUTS WITH TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON

The U.S. Department of Education building is seen on August 21, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

Trainor said the Department of Education will “vigorously enforce the law on equal terms as to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance.”

The letter urges state education departments to “ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law … cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends” and “cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race.”

The U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

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The letter comes after President Donald Trump signed executive orders directing agencies to provide a plan to eliminate federal funding for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.” He also signed orders to end DEI programs in federal agencies.

The Department of Education previously announced the removal of mention of DEI from documents and websites. The department also placed employees that led DEI initiatives on leave and dissolved its Diversity & Inclusion Council.

February 15, 2025
Dems spar over DOGE cuts with Trump education nominee Linda McMahon

Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee sparred with President Donald Trump’s Department of Education nominee Linda McMahon Thursday over cost-cutting efforts underway by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an agency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

“I believe the American people spoke loudly in the election last November to say that they want to look at waste, fraud and abuse in our government,” McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), said.

Pressed by Democrats including Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., if she would follow through with cuts suggested by the “DOGE brothers,” McMahon said she can be counted on to follow congressional statute “because that’s the law.”

TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON SAYS SHUTTING DOWN DOE WOULD ‘REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION’

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Education, testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on February 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images))

Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, also asked if McMahon believes DOGE should have access to “private student data,” suggesting that their probes “should frighten everyone.”

“It is my understanding that those employees have been onboarded as employees of the Department of Education, and therefore, they operate under the restraints of utilizing access of information,” McMahon said

“That’s not my understanding,” Murray shot back.

“That’s my understanding,” McMahon responded.

Murray said it was “deeply disturbing” that DOGE staffers aren’t “held accountable” and that it should “frighten everyone” if they have access to students’ private information.

INTO THE RING: TRUMP EDUCATION CHIEF PICK MCMAHON TO TESTIFY ON CUTTING ‘RED TAPE’ AMID DOGE SWEEPS

LInda McMahon worked as head of the Small Business Administration in President Trump’s first term as president. They are shown together in this 2019 photo. ( REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

The Department of Education canceled over $100 million in grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training as part of a broader cost-cutting effort led by DOGE, Fox News Digital previously reported. DOGE announced the termination of 89 DOE contracts, totaling $881 million, including $101 million allocated for DEI programs focused on educating educators about oppression, privilege, and power in a post on X Monday.

“Your tax dollars were spent on this,” Musk wrote of the DOE spending.

DOGE reported that the Department of Education spent an additional $1.5 million on a contractor to “observe mailing and clerical operations” at a mail center, a contract that was also terminated in the dramatic spending audit.

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Linda McMahon, shown on Capitol Hill in this Jan. 2025 file photo, is expected to receive the support of Republican senators but is unlikely to see many Democrats cross the aisle to vote for her confirmation. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

At one point moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine raised the terminated contracts as she asked about fears from some educators that grants for tutoring might be on the chopping block.

“There are many worthwhile programs that we should keep,” McMahon said in response to Collins. “But I’m not yet apprized of them. I want to study them. I’d like to get back and talk to you more and to work with you.”

DOGE has been on a tirade to cut spending within the DOE, including terminating three grants in early February, one of which funded an institution that had hosted faculty workshops on “Decolonizing the Curriculum.” President Donald Trump’s early executive orders launched a federal review of DEI practices in federally funded educational institutions.

McMahon testified during Thursday’s hearing that she has “not” had any conversation with Musk about the Department of Education.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 13, 2025
Trump Education nominee Linda McMahon says shutting down DOE would ‘require congressional action’

Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO Linda McMahon, tapped by President Donald Trump to head the Department of Education, is facing questions Thursday morning about her views on the agency’s future amid Trump’s quest to shutter it “immediately.”

During the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., first asked McMahon about whether she agrees the DOE would need Congressional approval to close it entirely.

“Certainly, President Trump understands that we’ll be working with Congress,” McMahon responded. “We’d like to do this right. We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education, but it certainly does require congressional action.”

INTO THE RING: TRUMP EDUCATION CHIEF PICK MCMAHON TO TESTIFY ON CUTTING ‘RED TAPE’ AMID DOGE SWEEPS

Trump hopes Linda McMahon will ‘put herself out of a job’ if confirmed to lead the Department of Education. (Getty Images)

Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., asked McMahon a similar question after a line of questioning about her support for Pell Grants.

“Let me just once again, get your feelings on this, that if there is a movement to abolish the Department of Education, it has to go through the United States Congress?” Sanders asked.

TRUMP EDUCATION DEPT LAUNCHES PROBE INTO ‘EXPLOSION OF ANTISEMITISM’ AT 5 UNIVERSITIES

President Donald Trump is seen in this March 2019 photo with McMahon, who worked in his first administration on the Small Business Administration. ( REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

McMahon responded, “Yes, it is set up by the United States Congress, and we work with Congress. It clearly cannot be shut down without it.”

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, asked McMahon about Maine’s TRIO programs that help first-generation college students from families without higher education experience. Collins questioned how these programs could be maintained if the Department of Education were “abolish[ed]” or “substantially reorganized.”

FORMER TRUMP EDUCATION SECRETARY LAYS OUT ‘UNFINISHED BUSINESS’ FOR NEW ADMIN ON SCHOOL REFORMS

“These various things, especially the trio program, which we both agreed was just hit with a terrible blow just by regulatory action when some of the students who were applying, their applications were rejected simply because of spacing on a form. And that kind of regulatory control just cannot stand. That is just impossible.”

“If I am confirmed to be able to get in and assess programs, how they can have the best oversight possible, how we can really take the bureaucracy out of education,” she said.

McMahon, nominated to head the Education Department, is stepping into a role that Trump has suggested he is seeking to eliminate. Trump recently indicated that if McMahon is confirmed, he wants her to “put herself out of a job.”

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President Trump vowed on the campaign trail to eliminate the Dept of Education and bring the power back to the states (Getty Images)

Ahead of McMahon’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Trump reiterated his intention to close the department, calling for it to be shut down “immediately.”

“It’s a big con job,” Trump said. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 13, 2025
Into the ring: Trump education chief pick McMahon to testify on cutting ‘red tape’ amid DOGE sweeps

FIRST ON FOX: Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Education, will testify before the Senate on Thursday, centering her opening remarks around creating “a better future for every American learner.”

The Trump nominee, who was tapped in November, will kick off her confirmation process during a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday morning. Republican Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Katie Britt of Alabama will introduce McMahon before the hearing, Fox News has learned.

McMahon will focus her remarks on enacting Trump’s vision with the idea that “education is the issue that determines our national success and prepares American workers to win the future,” according to an excerpt of her opening remarks, shared first with Fox News Digital.

“I would like to thank President Trump for his confidence in me to lead a Department whose mission and authority were a special focus of his campaign. He pledged to make American education the best in the world, return education to the states where it belongs, and free American students from the education bureaucracy through school choice,” McMahon will say in her opening remarks.

TRUMP EDUCATION DEPT LAUNCHES PROBE INTO ‘EXPLOSION OF ANTISEMITISM’ AT 5 UNIVERSITIES

Linda McMahon arrives for a meeting in Washington, D.C. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg)

McMahon is being boosted to head the department that Trump has suggested he wants to dismantle during his term, recently saying that if McMahon is confirmed, he wants her to “put herself out of a job.”

Trump said Wednesday just hours ahead of McMahon’s hearing that he wanted to close the Education Department “immediately.”

“It’s a big con job,” he said. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”

His comments came as Trump’s executive agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) run by Elon Musk, continues its financial audit of the federal government.

TRUMP’S KEY TO CABINET CONFIRMATIONS: SENATOR-TURNED-VP VANCE’S GIFT OF GAB

McMahon previously served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term before stepping down in 2019 to “return to the private sector.”

She plans to say during her opening remarks Thursday, “My experience as a business owner and leader of the Small Business Administration, as a public servant in the state of Connecticut, and more than a decade of service as a college trustee has taught me to put parents, teachers, and students, not bureaucracy, first.”

“Outstanding teachers are tired of political ideology in their curriculum and red tape on their desks. This is why school choice is a growing movement across the nation: it offers teachers and parents an alternative to classrooms that are micromanaged from Washington, D.C.”

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Linda McMahon after announcing her resignation on March 29, 2019. (Joshua Roberts)

The Trump nominee also plans to highlight antisemitism in schools and the issue of biological males competing in women’s and girls’ sports.

“If I am confirmed, the department will not stand idly by while Jewish students are attacked and discriminated against,” her remarks read. “It will stop forcing schools to let boys and men into female sports and spaces. And it will protect the rights of parents to direct the moral education of their children.”

In her opening remarks, McMahon will note that “many Americans today are experiencing a system in decline” but that “the opportunity before us these next four years is momentous.”

Linda McMahon speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024. (Mike Segar)

“It is my great honor to announce that Linda McMahon, former Administrator of the Small Business Administration, will be the United States Secretary of Education,” Trump said in his nomination announcement in November.

Before being tapped to head the Education Department, McMahon founded WWE with her husband in 1980, which has grown into a global wrestling entertainment network.

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“As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,” the press release added. “Linda served for two years on the Connecticut Board of Education, where she was one of fifteen members overseeing all Public Education in the State, including its Technical High School system.”

After McMahon’s confirmation hearing, the committee will schedule a vote on whether to advance her nomination to a full floor vote.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

February 13, 2025
Trump Education Department launches Title IX probes into 2 blue states allegedly ignoring trans athlete order

The United States Department of Education has launched Title IX investigations into athletic associations in California and Minnesota after they said they would ignore President Donald Trump’s executive order to keep transgender athletes out of girls and women’s sports.

The Minnesota State High School League announced Thursday it will continue to allow transgender athletes to compete against girls despite Trump’s executive order to probibit them from doing so.

That came just days after the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state’s law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as.

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Donald Trump (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

“The Minnesota State High School League and the California Interscholastic Federation are free to engage in all the meaningless virtue-signaling that they want, but at the end of the day they must abide by federal law,” said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

“(The Office of Civil Rights’) Chicago and San Francisco regional offices will conduct directed investigations into both organizations to ensure that female athletes in these states are treated with the dignity, respect and equality that the Trump administration demands. I would remind these organizations that history does not look kindly on entities and states that actively opposed the enforcement of federal civil rights laws that protect women and girls from discrimination and harassment.”

The Department of Education added that state laws do not override federal anti-discrimination laws, so the associations are subject to investigations.

Trump signed the executive order on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which celebrates female athletes in women’s sports and those committed to providing equal access to sports for all females.

President Donald Trump signs the No Men in Women’s Sports executive order into law in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

The order states 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” and to take “all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms and thereby provide the equal opportunity guaranteed by Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.”

Prior to Trump signing the order Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said part of the motivation behind Trump’s executive order would be to create a “pressure campaign” for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and NCAA to follow and prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

In response to Trump’s order, the NCAA changed its policy, in place since 2010, to disallow transgender athletes from competing against women, requiring them to compete based on their birth gender.

During Trump’s ceremony at the White House to sign the executive order, he announced that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will prohibit any transgender athletes attempting to compete as women from entering the country for the Olympics in 2028.

Former President Donald Trump is joined onstage by Riley Gaines at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas, Aug. 6, 2022. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

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The United Nations released study findings saying nearly 900 biological females have fallen short of winning medals because they lost to transgender athletes.

Minnesota, governed by Kamala Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, was home to a Supreme Court case in which a transgender powerlifter was continuing in a fight to compete against biological women.

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

February 13, 2025
Trump blasts Department of Education as ‘con job,’ says he wants it closed ‘immediately’

President Donald Trump called the Department of Education a “con job,” saying he saw a report that the nation ranks 40th in the world in education but is No. 1 in cost per pupil.

Trump spoke with reporters Wednesday afternoon from the Oval Office and was asked how soon he wanted the Department of Education (DOE) closed.

“Oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately. Look at the Department of Education. It’s a big con job,” he answered. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”

Trump said the last time he looked at where the U.S. ranked in education, it was 38th, but then he looked two days ago, and the country had fallen to No. 40.

DOGE SLASHES OVER $100M IN DEI FUNDING AT EDUCATION DEPARTMENT: ‘WIN FOR EVERY STUDENT’

President Trump said he would like the Department of Education to close immediately. (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

He even noted that China had ranked in the top five.

“As big as it is, it’s ranked in the top five, and that’s our … primary competitor,” Trump said. “So, if we’re ranked No. 40, that means something’s really wrong.”

The president has ordered the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the department led by Elon Musk, to find ways to slash wasteful spending, and the DOE made the chopping block this week.

TRUMP PUTS HIGHER EDUCATION ON NOTICE FOR ‘DANGEROUS, DEMEANING, AND IMMORAL’ DEI TEACHINGS

The U.S. Department of Education building Aug. 21, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

DOGE announced Monday that $881 million related to 89 DOE contracts was being cut.

Of that $881 million, DOGE identified $101 million that was being used for DEI training, including teaching educators to “help students understand/interrogate the complex histories involved in oppression, and help students recognize areas of privilege and power on an individual and collective basis.”

“Your tax dollars were spent on this,” Musk wrote of the DOE spending.

Last month, Trump signed two executive orders on education, one to remove federal funding from K-12 schools that teach critical race theory (CRT), and another to support school choice.

TRUMP EDUCATION DEPT LAUNCHES PROBE INTO ‘EXPLOSION OF ANTISEMITISM’ AT 5 UNIVERSITIES

Critical race theory (CRT) has emerged as a polarizing topic in recent years. (Robert Gauthier)

The teaching of CRT and other controversial content in schools has sparked backlash from parents at school board meetings across the nation over the past several years. During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged to cut federal funding for schools that promote CRT, transgender ideology and “any other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children.”

Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders targeting federal funding for schools as test scores continue to drop, according to the Nation’s Report Card.

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Trump administration officials are also reportedly weighing a plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, according to a Wall Street Journal report published last week.

Fox News Digital’s Kristine Parks contributed to this report.

Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.

Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @GregWehner.

February 13, 2025
Education Department calls on NCAA, NFHS to strip awards, records ‘misappropriated’ by trans athletes

The United States Department of Education is calling on the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to strip the records and awards “misappropriated” by transgender athletes competing in girls and women’s sports less than a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively banning them from competition.

The statement follows a letter sent by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) to the NCAA and the NFHS on Tuesday urging the organization to “restore to female athletes the records, titles, awards, and recognitions misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”

NCAA president Charlie Baker give a television interview during the game between the UCLA Bruins and the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on March 25, 2023 in Greenville, South Carolina. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The statement went on to call on the organizations to strip any accolades from those athletes that “unfairly competed against girls and women in athletics,” adding that doing so would align the groups with the new policy.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order on Wednesday, which will require entities that receive federal funding to align with Title IX, which the Trump administration changed last week to recognize protections on the basis of biological sex — undoing former President Joe Biden’s 2024 rewrite.

Surrounded by female athletes, Trump declared at the signing ceremony that “the war on women’s sports is over.”

In response to the executive order, NCAA President Charlie Baker later released a statement stating that the Board of Governors would review the executive order and take steps to align the organization’s policy in the coming days.

A general view of NCAA pool flags. (Scott Taetsch/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS PROTEST, THREATEN LAWSUITS OVER STATE’S REFUSAL TO FOLLOW TRUMP’S TRANS ATHLETES BAN

“We strongly believe that clear, consistent and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard,” the statement read.

“The NCAA Board of Governors is reviewing the executive order and will take necessary steps to align NCAA policy in the coming days, subject to further guidance from the administration. The Association will continue to help foster welcoming environments on campuses for all student-athletes. We stand ready to assist schools as they look for ways to support any student-athletes affected by changes in the policy.”

The following day the NCAA officially updated its gender eligibility policy that “limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only.”

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18th, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Candice Jackson, Deputy General Counsel, said in a statement Tuesday that the NCAA’s decision to change its policy was only the first step.

“The next necessary step is to restore athletic records to women who have for years been devalued, ignored, and forced to watch men steal their accolades. The Trump Education Department will do everything in our power to right this wrong and champion the hard-earned accomplishments of past, current, and future female collegiate athletes.”

The executive order has been met with pushback.

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state’s law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital last week.

The Education department’s latest plea is also expected to be met with similar rebuffs.

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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February 11, 2025