Trump campaigned on not giving ‘one penny to any school that has a [COVID] vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.’
President Donald Trump on Feb. 14 signed an executive order barring funding to universities and schools with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The order, detailed in a fact sheet provided by the White House, will prohibit all federal funding to any schools that implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates and directs the secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services to issue compliance guidelines and plans to end existing mandates. The secretaries will also create a report of non-compliant institutions and a process for blocking funds from supporting any that impose mandates.
The institutions affected include educational service agencies, state education agencies, local education agencies, elementary schools, secondary schools, or any institutions of higher education that require students to receive COVID-19 vaccines to attend in-person educational programs.
“President Trump is committed to protecting personal freedoms and ensuring that Americans’ education isn’t conditioned on unnecessary government mandates,” the White House fact sheet states. “[He] is dedicated to ensuring that American students are not forced to choose between their education and their medical freedom … fulfilling his campaign promise: ‘I will not allow schools to impose COVID