k-12 Governance and redistributed federal taxpayer fund$
In ordering U.S. schools to stop “indoctrinating” students in areas of race and sexuality or risk losing federal money, President Donald Trump singled out the Madison School District as promoting the type of policy his executive order seeks to stamp out.
The order, signed Wednesday, declares that federal money cannot be used on the “indoctrination” of children, including “radical gender ideology and critical race theory.” It says civil rights laws barring discrimination based on sex and race would be used to enforce the order, calling critical race theory an “inherently racist policy.”
In an accompanying “fact sheet,” the White House cited a Madison School District policy that urges schools to “disrupt the gender binary” by teaching students to embrace different gender identities. Another policy at Harrisonburg City Public Schools in Virginia requires teachers to use students’ preferred names and pronouns.
The examples are included under the heading, “Widespread indoctrination of gender ideology is a gross violation of parental rights.”
The Wisconsin State Journal could not confirm whether the phrase the White House objected to is included in any current Madison School District policy, although it is referenced in a 2020 lawsuit. District spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.