Grading President Trump’s (Second) First 100 Days

At 100 days into the second Trump presidency, there’s no better time to reflect on how America’s new leadership is serving students and families—or more specifically, the many ways in which it’s not.

Below, New America’s education policy experts have analyzed emerging trends and warn that the administration’s pursuit of sweeping cuts to critical funding and its messy deregulation efforts threaten early childhood programs, public schools, and higher education.

The threat posed by the Trump administration to young children and their families was highlighted when news broke earlier this month that leaders are considering a budget proposal that would zero out funding for Head Start, the 60-year-old federal program that provides child care, healthy food, and medical screenings for about 800,000 young children living in poverty each year.

Additionally, dozens of Senate Democrats recently sent a letter to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. outlining other administration actions that undermine Head Start, including a temporary freeze on the disbursement of grant funding for federal programs, the abrupt closure of five of the ten regional offices that assist local grantees in administering Head Start services, the termination of almost 100 Office of Head Start central office staff, and delays in payments and grant renewals.

The planned elimination of Head Start is just the latest salvo in the administration’s ongoing efforts to slash federal programs regardless of the consequences. Already we’ve seen serious reductions in staff and funding for both the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services, along with the termination of hundreds of grants and contracts supporting education research and teacher preparation. This reduction in federal capacity and funding will lead to costs being passed to individual states at a time when many are already struggling from the recent expiration of federal pandemic relief funds.

The administration’s plans to shutter the Department of Education call into question the future of the two largest federal funding streams for public schools: Title I and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). A portion of the roughly $18 billion each year in Title I funds that fund services for students from low-income families also helps fund high-quality pre-K programs. And IDEA funding is critical for helping states and districts better serve students with disabilities starting at birth.

Equally concerning is the administration’s push for a reconciliation process aimed at extending tax cuts that would primarily benefit the wealthy by slashing federal spending, including cuts to Medicaid. The budget resolution passed in late February by the House of Representatives instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, to cut spending by $880 billion over ten years. That math makes cuts to Medicaid almost unavoidable, a decision that would have disastrous consequences for young children since the program provides health coverage to more than 37 million children. Notably, Medicaid also helps to identify and support children with delays or disabilities as early as possible by funding developmental screenings, evaluations, and early intervention services for infants and toddlers.

While the Trump and Biden administration recognize the growing importance of digital learning tools, their approaches differ.

The Biden administration pursued a strategy focused on closing the digital divide—expanding broadband access, and funding public institutions that support education technology resources and skill building. A key part of this effort was the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Development (BEAD) program, launched through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with a goal of achieving universal high-speed internet by 2030. Over the past four years, states have collaborated with the federal government to finalize plans to extend underground fiber-optic cables to the estimated 22 million Americans without home internet.

In contrast, the Trump administration is emphasizing deregulation, state-driven initiatives, and funding cuts. In March 2025, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced that the BEAD program is under review for “woke mandates, favoritism towards certain technologies, and burdensome regulations.” The administration aims to revamp the program to be tech-neutral—a move seen by some as encouraging satellite internet service providers. This is despite telecommunications experts insisting that fiber is the fastest, more affordable way to connect underserved communities for the long-term. States like Texas and West Virginia are now considering alternative technologies, particularly for rural communities where satellite service may be the only option.

The shift in federal approach is also evident in education technology guidance. Although not a regulatory or grant making agency, The U.S. Department of Education’s office of educational technology (OET) provided guidance and evidence-based strategies for states and districts navigating emerging technologies. With the Trump administration’s closure of the Office of Educational Technology (OET), states and districts are left to coordinate independently—raising concerns about duplicated efforts and fragmented implementation. Although its likely that organizations that have previously partnered with OET will continue aspects of this work.

On artificial intelligence, the Trump administration is focused on bolstering America’s competitiveness. In January 2025, President Trump rescinded President Biden’s 2023 executive order on AI that introduced guardrails regulations on companies developing AI to prevent harms from technology. In its place President Trump announced Stargate, a private sector venture aimed at investing up to $500 billion over the next four years to build 20 new data centers dedicated to AI projects.

On April 23, President Trump issued an executive order Advancing AI Education for America's Youth that is “forward-leaning, pro-innovation and pro-competition mindset rather than pursuing the risk-averse approach of the previous administration” and aims to secure America’s global leadership in AI by embedding AI education and skills development starting from a young age. Actions include establishing a task force, prioritizing federal education grant funding for educator professional development, creating a competition for students and educators to demonstrate their AI skills, tasking the National Science Foundation with prioritizing research on AI application in education, and developing apprenticeship programs in AI-related occupations via the Department of Labor and through the use of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

Regarding higher education, President Trump has spent his first few months in office unraveling decades of policy norms, all apparent attempts to set back scientific research, end diversity initiatives on campuses, and weaken some of the nation’s most prominent institutions so colleges writ large will fall in line with the administration’s political agenda.

One of the Trump administration’s most visible policy moves—attempts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education—circumvented Congress, which alone holds the authority to shut down federal agencies. But President Trump has still slashed more than half of the Education Department’s staff, cuts that will be felt deeply in agency offices that handle higher ed issues like federal student aid and civil rights.

Already, staff cutbacks in the Office of Federal Student Aid have resulted in inquiries from students and colleges left unanswered. This will likely only worsen as more students start to apply to college and for financial aid, stressing a system that already experienced major hurdles over the last couple of years.

The Trump Education Department has also weaponized enforcement of civil rights law, freezing billions of dollars in grants for prominent institutions including Columbia and Harvard universities, claiming they have allowed antisemitism to run rampant on their campuses.

While colleges should ensure prejudice does not go unchecked, the Trump administration’s actions aren’t intended to eradicate antisemitism. The Education Department has abandoned civil rights investigations that would reveal the details of antisemitic incidents and how colleges respond, instead favoring hasty punishments clearly intended to force institutions to kowtow to the president’s political ideology.

These actions not only put key research that would benefit the entire country on ice, but also assail colleges’ constitutional and academic freedoms. Institutions of higher education operate on the premise they’ll be free from government overreach, a tenant the president is eroding.

The Trump administration also seemed to flout the Constitution when it revoked hundreds of international student visas. The administration argued these students had violated their visa terms, though they often only had minor, if any, legal infractions on their recordings, according to news reports. As judicial scrutiny on these actions intensified, the U.S. Department of Justice walked back the visa terminations, likely recognizing them as illegal.

Most recently, President Trump issued an executive order on accreditation that pushes these quality-check entities to abandon diversity, equity, and inclusion standards for their colleges. This will only upend federal policies around accreditors, which would in turn permit bad actors into the financial aid system. Many of these aspiring accreditors are already lining up.