Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families

The order directs the Secretary of Education to issue guidance within 60 days on how states can use federal formula funds for K-12 educational choice, and within 90 days to submit a plan with the Secretary of Labor on using discretionary grant programs to expand education freedom. It directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance within 90 days on whether states can use child and family block grants — including the Child Care and Development Block Grant — to support families choosing private or faith-based educational options. It also directs the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Interior to each review available funding mechanisms that would allow military-connected families and families of Bureau of Indian Education-eligible students, respectively, to direct federal funds to schools of their choice.

The order does not itself redirect any federal funding, create any new school-choice program, or change any regulation. Each directive calls for a guidance document or action plan; the actual expansion of educational choice depends on future agency rulemaking, guidance issuance, and appropriations availability. A general-provisions section explicitly states the order creates no enforceable rights.

K-12 families across the country — particularly low-income families relying on childcare block grants, military-connected families, and families of students eligible for Bureau of Indian Education schools — as well as state education agencies that administer federal formula funds and private and faith-based schools that could become eligible recipients.

Families who want to use federal education dollars at private, charter, or faith-based schools could gain new pathways if the resulting guidance and plans are implemented. States and agencies would need to act on the plans before any individual family sees a change in available funding choices.

Each agency operates on its own track: the Secretary of Education moves first with formula-fund guidance at 60 days, then five agencies report or issue guidance at 90 days, with plans routed through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. No single coordinating body is established. Enforcement depends entirely on agency compliance with the deadlines; the order contains a standard appropriations-availability caveat and an explicit no-private-right-of-action clause, limiting outside pressure on agencies to act.