Military schools offer test case for Trump education reforms

Military academies could increasingly show what President Trump wants to see from public schools and colleges.  

While K-12 districts and universities are fighting back against book removals; transgender athlete bans; and the termination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the administration has a far freer hand at military institutions.  

Military schools fall under an entirely different set of laws and regulations from public ones and are under the direct control of Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, though a recent protest at a military middle school in Germany shows students are not entirely on board with their reforms. 

“Historically speaking, the military has always been one step ahead politically of where society is because of the controlled environment,” said Bobby Jones, president of Veterans for Responsible Leadership.  

“In some respects, the military can be used as a social experimentation area because of the controlled environment, and everybody has to roger up to the orders,” Jones continued, adding “it would not surprise” him if what is happening at service academies was indicative of what the Trump administration wants at other universities.  

The president has signed multiple executive orders affecting military schools, including bans on DEI and on transgender girls and women competing on sports teams that match their gender identity. Unlike with some of his other education orders, the results have been swift.

The U.S. Naval Academy has already removed around 400 books from its library that it says promoted DEI. The removals from the Nimitz Library collection, the academy said, were done “in order to ensure compliance with all directives outlined in Executive Orders issued by the President.” 

West Point and the Air Force Academy are also reviewing their curriculum and will look at the content of their libraries if directed to do so, according to The Associated Press. 

And despite a judge ruling in December that the affirmative action policies at the Naval Academy were legal, the academy announced it would no longer consider race or ethnicity as a factor in admission last month.

On Friday, the federal government said in a court filing that the Air Force Academy has also ended race-conscious admissions.  

Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman senior research fellow in education policy at the Heritage Foundation, said that Trump's orders are "actually doubling down on how we understand civil rights law should be applied."

"That's the best way that I feel like we should describe many of these executive orders dealing with diversity, equity, inclusion ... as opposed to creating something new when it comes to a military academy,” Butcher said.

The 160 K-12 schools under control of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), which serve some 66,000 students, have also seen books and certain lesson plans pulled from classrooms, as well as guidance saying programs and facilities for girls can “only be accessed by biological females.” 

The changes at these schools have not happened quietly. 

On Thursday, hundreds of students at schools under DoDEA control protested book bans and anti-DEI measures that were implemented in their classrooms, Military.com reported. The protests occurred at facilities in the U.S., Asia and Europe.

Students at a middle school in Germany staged a walkout in February over anti-DEI measures that was timed to coincide with Hegseth visiting the country.

But apart from such demonstrations, those at the academy or schools under DoDEA control do not have the same mechanisms to challenge policy changes as those in public schools.

Currently, the Department of Education has sent out letters to public universities and K-12 schools that demands they get rid of any DEI policies or risk losing federal funding. For administrators and students at civilian schools, a decision must be made on whether to challenge the reforms in court and risk budget cuts.

But when it comes to military academies, Butcher said, "it's a whole different set of laws. It is a part of an extension of U.S. government by as an extension of the military."

Several students at military K-12 schools told USA Today they were threatened with detention, not being allowed to play on their schools' sports teams or facing unexcused absences if they participated in the pro-DEI protests.  

"DoDEA policies on attendance and student discipline have not changed. While student-led walkouts in the past have concluded without serious incidents, the cumulative disruption to the DoDEA school system negatively impacted classroom instruction and pulled resources away from normal school operations to ensure student safety," DoDEA said in a statement.

While the agency said it encourages civic engagement through forms such as student government, it "does not support or endorse student walkouts."

“Unfortunately, the dependents of service members have to deal with it, which is why they protested it," Jones said. "They had no say in DEI programs going away. There was no local school district for them to appeal to. It was a direct order from the Department of Defense."

And the president is tightening his control on the nation's military academies not only through executive orders but also in whom he appoints to their boards. While the boards are normally made up of individuals chosen in a bipartisan manner, Trump has leaned on conservative allies and media personalities.

The Air Force Academy board will include individuals such as conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), retired Col. Doug Nikolai and Dina Powell, who served in the first Trump administration.  

“The boards of visitors that oversee the five service academies are political appointees, historically speaking, those people appointed to those boards have been a mixture of both left and right, conservative, liberal, because they recognize that the officers that generate from those schools have to be balanced and be able to be critical thinkers [and] all this other stuff. It goes beyond petty politics,” Jones said.  

He added that the damage to the institutions could be long-lasting, saying that though he attended one himself, he would not allow his children to do so.

“I have two daughters, one of which could enlist right now, and another in a couple of years could do the same thing. Both mom and dad went to the Naval Academy. Their great grandfather was a Tuskegee Airman. Their other great grandfather was a Korean War veteran. And my wife and I [were] like, ‘Nope, you're not going.' ... That's how powerful the influence of Trump and Hegseth have become,” he added.