In this next installment of our series, we examine the remaining presidential executive orders that could affect K-12 education in New Jersey. The information provided here is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be construed as legal advice, or as instruction for boards of education to take, or to refrain from taking, any particular action. Boards of education should consult with their board attorneys to decide what action, if any, is appropriate.
Executive Order 14201 – ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,’ signed Feb. 5, 2025.
In a stated effort to “protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports,” and because, according to EO 14201, educational institutions and athletic associations have in recent years “allowed men to compete in women’s sports,” the executive order establishes a federal policy “to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,” and creates a federal policy “to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
Among other things, EO 14201 directs the U.S. Secretary of Education to “take all appropriate action to affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities and all-female locker rooms,” and to ensure that “regulations and policy guidance” clearly specify and clarify that women’s sports are reserved for women.
EO 14201 reiterates that Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (Title IX) requires educational institutions receiving federal funds to ensure that women are not denied an equal opportunity to participate in sports and maintains that EO 14201 is in furtherance of Title IX’s requirements.
The full text of EO 14201 can be found here.
Executive Order 14214 – ‘Keeping Education Accessible and Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools,’ signed Feb. 14, 2025.
Citing what the EO says is the “incredibly low risk of serious COVID-19 illness for children and young adults,” and because threatening to “shut [children and young adults] out of an education is an intolerable infringement on personal freedom,” usurps parental authority, and burdens students of varied faiths, EO 14214 establishes a federal policy that “discretionary Federal funds should not be used to directly or indirectly support or subsidize an educational service agency, State educational agency, local educational agency, elementary school, secondary school, or institution of higher education that requires students to have received a COVID-19 vaccination to attend any in-person education program.” More simply, EO 14214 aims to prohibit discretionary federal funds from being used to support educational institutions that require students to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in order to participate in in-person learning. EO 14214 directs, among other things, the U.S. Secretary of Education, in consultation with the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services, to develop, by mid-May 2025, “a plan to end” what it says are “coercive COVID-19 school mandates.”
The full text of EO 14214 can be found here.
Executive Order 14242 – ‘Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities,’ signed March 20, 2025.
Declaring that “the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars … has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families,” EO 14242 pronounces that the main functions of the U.S. Department of Education “can, and should, be returned to the States.” To this end, EO 14242 directs the U.S. Secretary of Education to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the U.S. Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.” EO 14242 further directs the U.S. Secretary of Education “to ensure that the allocation of any Federal Department of Education funds is subject to rigorous compliance with Federal law and Administration policy, including the requirement that any program or activity receiving Federal assistance terminate illegal discrimination obscured under the label ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ or similar terms and programs promoting gender ideology.”
The full text of EO 14242 can be found here.
Find Out More
If you would like to review an executive order not covered by our ongoing series, you can find a list of executive orders issued by the current administration here.
For further information about these matters, please contact the NJSBA Legal and Labor Relations Department at (609) 278-5279, or your board attorney for specific legal advice.
