Keeping Education Accessible and Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in Schools

Executive Orders

TLDR

This executive order restricts federal funding to educational institutions that mandate COVID-19 vaccines for attendance. While potentially significant, its practical impact may be limited since most institutions have already dropped such requirements. The order affects only COVID-19 vaccines, leaving other vaccination requirements unchanged, and faces implementation challenges due to Congress’s control over most education funding.

This executive order aims to eliminate COVID-19 vaccine mandates in educational institutions by leveraging federal funding. Let’s analyze its key components and implications:

Key Provisions

Policy Framework

The order prohibits federal funds from supporting any educational institutions that require COVID-19 vaccination for in-person attendance. This applies to all levels of education, from elementary schools through higher education institutions.

Implementation Mechanism

  • The Secretary of Education must issue guidelines regarding legal obligations related to parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection.
  • A 90-day deadline is set for developing a comprehensive plan to end vaccine mandates.
  • The plan must include a list of non-compliant institutions receiving federal funding and processes for preventing/rescinding such funding.

Practical Impact

Current Context

The order’s immediate impact may be limited since:

  • No states currently mandate COVID-19 vaccines for K-12 education.
  • Most colleges have already dropped their COVID-19 vaccine requirements.
  • Only a few institutions, such as Swarthmore and Oberlin colleges, still maintain limited mandates for on-campus students.

Limitations

  • The order specifically targets only COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
  • Traditional school vaccination requirements for diseases like measles, mumps, polio, and others remain unaffected.
  • All states maintain medical and religious exemptions for existing vaccine requirements.

Critical Analysis

Policy Gaps

  • The order doesn’t specify which federal funds could be used for enforcement.
  • Most federal education funding is controlled by Congress, potentially limiting the executive branch’s ability to implement the order.

Administrative Challenges

  • The Department of Education and HHS must create new compliance guidelines.
  • The order requires developing mechanisms to track and report non-compliant institutions.
  • Implementation must occur within existing legal frameworks and available appropriations.

This executive order represents a significant shift in federal policy regarding COVID-19 vaccination requirements in educational settings, though its practical impact may be limited due to existing trends away from such mandates.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.

Purpose and Policy.

Some school districts and universities continue to coerce children and young adults into taking the COVID-19 vaccine by conditioning their education on it, and others may re-implement such mandates. Parents and young adults should be empowered with accurate data regarding the remote risks of serious illness associated with COVID-19 for children and young adults, as well as how those risks can be mitigated through various measures, and left free to make their own decisions accordingly. Given the incredibly low risk of serious COVID-19 illness for children and young adults, threatening to shut them out of an education is an intolerable infringement on personal freedom. Such mandates usurp parental authority and burden students of many faiths.

It is the policy of my Administration 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.

Sec. 2.

Definitions.

For the purposes of this order:

(a) The term “educational service agency” has the meaning given in 20 U.S.C. 1401(5).

(b) The term “elementary school” has the meaning given in 34 C.F.R. 77.1©.

© The term “institution of higher education” has the meaning given in 20 U.S.C. 1001(a).

(d) The term “local educational agency” has the meaning given in 34 C.F.R. 77.1©.

(e) The term “secondary school” has the meaning given in 34 C.F.R. 77.1©.

(f) The term “State educational agency” has the meaning given in 34 C.F.R. 77.1©.

Sec. 3.

Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Coercion.

(a) The Secretary of Education shall as soon as practicable issue guidelines to elementary schools, local educational agencies, State educational agencies, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education regarding those entities’ legal obligations with respect to parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection under law, as relevant to coercive COVID-19 school mandates.

(b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall provide to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, a plan to end coercive COVID-19 school mandates, consistent with applicable law, and including, as appropriate, any proposed legislation. Such plan shall also include:

(i) a list of discretionary Federal grants and contracts provided to elementary schools, local educational agencies, State educational agencies, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education that are non-compliant with the guidelines issued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section; and

(ii) each executive department or agency’s process for, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, preventing Federal funds from being provided to, and rescinding Federal funds from, elementary schools, local educational agencies, State educational agencies, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education that are non-compliant with the guidelines issued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

Sec. 4.

General Provisions.

(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

© This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.