Keeping Education Accessible and Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools

The order directs the Secretary of Education, as soon as practicable, to issue guidelines to K-12 schools, local and state educational agencies, and institutions of higher education explaining their legal obligations regarding parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection as those obligations relate to COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Within 90 days, the Secretary of Education — in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services — must deliver a plan to the President to end coercive COVID-19 school mandates. That plan must list non-compliant discretionary federal grant and contract recipients and detail how each executive department and agency would prevent or rescind federal funds from those institutions.

The order sets an express administration policy that discretionary federal funds should not directly or indirectly support educational institutions that require COVID-19 vaccination for in-person attendance. It does not itself cut off any funding; actual withholding is contingent on the guidelines, the plan, and future agency action consistent with applicable law and available appropriations.

Students, parents, and religious communities at K-12 schools and colleges that currently require COVID-19 vaccination for in-person attendance; those schools, local and state educational agencies, and universities that receive discretionary federal funding; and federal education and health departments charged with implementing the new guidelines and plan.

Schools and universities that maintain COVID-19 vaccine requirements for in-person attendance risk losing discretionary federal funding once agencies finalize the implementation plan. Students at those institutions — and the institutions themselves — face uncertainty about continued federal financial support if mandates are not lifted.

The order works in two sequential steps. First, the Secretary of Education issues guidelines informing schools of their existing legal obligations — these serve as the compliance benchmark. Second, within 90 days, the Secretary of Education and HHS produce a plan identifying non-compliant grant and contract recipients and describing each agency's process for withholding or rescinding funds. Actual funding action follows that plan. The order is cabined by a standard savings clause preserving OMB budget authority, and all actions must be consistent with applicable law and appropriations.