Fairfax County shows why Trump should freeze education grants

This op-ed was written by Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, a contributor for The Federalist and the Washington Examiner; a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia; an author; and the Fairfax chapter leader of Independent Women’s Network. Her articles have also appeared in Fox News Digital, National Review, WMAL.com, The Daily Signal, and Townhall. Originally appeared in The Washington Times.

Last month, the Education Department notified states of its intention to pause and review $6 billion in education grants allocated for K-12 public schools. The reason: to ensure that “taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities.”

The Trump administration is absolutely right to scrutinize these funds. Public school administrators across the nation need to make sure public resources are allocated with students’ academic achievement in mind.

Plummeting standardized test scores clearly demonstrate that public education is failing America’s children. Declining standards and the obsessive focus on leftist politics in lieu of academic instruction in public schools are even more damaging to the most vulnerable children.

The four-grade academic gap between America’s wealthiest and poorest students indicates that time at school is better spent doing math than being indoctrinated in gender ideology.

Although a coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia is suing the Trump administration for the $6 billion, they don’t seem to be addressing how district administrators are actually using the funds.

In Fairfax County, Virginia, for example, $13 million of federal funds are frozen. The district’s superintendent, Michelle Reid, said the grants subsidize teacher training and services for English language learners.

In the 2024-2025 academic year, Fairfax County Public Schools forced its teachers to undergo mandatory training on gender identity. The training interprets Title IX in the way the Biden administration advocated, emphasizing in bold that “Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of … gender identity or transgender status.”

Consequently, the training dictates that bathroom and locker room use be based on gender, that preferred pronouns are mandatory and that transitioning students have a right to privacy from their parents. The “guidance document” informs teachers and staff that “prior to notification of any parent or guardian regarding the transition process, school staff should work closely with the student to assess the degree to which, if any, the parent or guardian will be involved in the process and must consider the health, wellbeing, and safety of the transitioning student.”

Think about that for a moment. In Fairfax County, taxpayer funds are supporting training that promotes policies and procedures that violate many families’ religious beliefs and require public school administrators and teachers to keep critical secrets from parents about their own children.

Aside from ridiculous teacher trainings, the $13 million in federal grants goes to services for English language learners in the county. Sadly, leftists use this vulnerable population of students to collect more public funding from the state and federal governments, but they have little to show in terms of positive academic outcomes.

Fairfax County’s English language learners perform poorly on standardized tests and notably worse than their counterparts in other public school districts across Virginia. In 2024, 69% of Fairfax County’s English language learners failed their standardized reading test, 94% failed writing, 58% failed math, 71% failed science and 83% failed history.

English language learners compose about 26.8% of Fairfax County Public Schools’ population. The number grew substantially after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors enacted its sanctuary policy in January 2021. From 2021 to 2026, the population increased by 13.3% (4,417 students) across the district, with an estimated total of 37,742 English language learners enrolled ahead of fiscal year 2026.

With a proposed fiscal 2026 expenditure of an extra $5,572 per English language learning student, the district’s price tag for English as a second language instruction is now $210 million, a more than 123% increase from fiscal 2019, when it was $93.9 million.

Although we hope all children thrive in their public schools, many Fairfax County residents are wondering whether they will be taxed out of their homes to pay for the county’s sanctuary policy. Given that such policies also run contrary to the Trump administration’s priorities, it’s not particularly surprising that the federal government wouldn’t want to offer grants to help us pay for it.

As the Education Department rightly reviews $6 billion in grants, leftist district administrators and politicians, such as those in Fairfax County, mask their greed and motives with the deceptive statement, “What about the kids?”

Still, for them, it’s not about the academic success of children. It’s about power and their own corrupt political agenda.