April 24, 2025

‘Everything is different’: How Trump’s first 100 days in office have upended education, and its coverage, in America

By Allie Miller >>

The end of this month will mark President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, and in that time his administration has moved to eliminate the Department of Education, ended federal support for Tribal colleges, removed protections for transgender students, launched investigations into 85 schools and is reviewing billions in funding for colleges and universities.

The sweeping changes and threats aimed at schools he deems out-of-step with his cultural vision for America have been an unprecedented and fast-paced, non-stop story for education reporters in the Midwest and across the nation.

Jennifer Smith Richards, a Chicago-based reporter at ProPublica, has been on the education beat for over 20 years — which means this isn’t her first time covering education while Trump is in office. But coverage of Trump’s second term thus far compared to his first is unparalleled — “I’m not sure I can overstate this, but like, everything is different,” she said.

“It’s customary and expected that when a presidential administration changes, so will the priorities of the administration and of the Education Department,” Smith Richards explained. “And in this case, what we’re seeing is a rapid overhaul of way things have worked for years now, the actual dismantling of some of the key functions of the agency, and it’s all happening so, so quickly. And all of that is different than it has been before.”

In the just over two months that Trump has been in the White House, Smith Richards’ coverage has spanned across states and includes attacks on trans rights in schools, civil rights and changes in the Education Department. Though she has encountered various roadblocks during her recent reporting, Smith Richards said the sheer speed of change has been “exceptionally challenging,” as well as overwhelming, prompting quick decision making about what to act on with urgency.

“I don’t think we could have anticipated how quickly things like guidance and executive orders would come out,” she said. “They’re extremely consequential to how schools operate day to day, and that type of information has come out so quickly, and has brought with it significant changes to the policy that the U.S. Department of Education is trying to enforce.”

Trump has signed more than 100 executive orders — or written directives — so far. Though these orders might request government agencies to change course, they can’t override federal law, and have to go through Congress to become official.

David Jesse, a senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education based just outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, covers leadership in higher education. Between grant cuts, DEI and arrests of student activists on campus, “it’s just hard to keep up with everything, and to know what stands out, what’s really important, and what’s not,” he said.

Alison Rohrbach, a music teacher at Sunny Hill Elementary School in Carpentersville, Illinois, said she is struggling to keep up with the changes, too.

Sunny Hill is a Title I school, meaning it receives federal funding to assist with educational development for low-income learners. Though the school’s funding has yet to be touched, Rohrbach said there is heightened anxiety among her and her colleagues, causing them to ask: “Are we going to be able to provide the education that we’re used to providing?”

“It’s been hard because the headlines are coming so fast and furious that it’s like, okay, I’m going to read this article, and then 20 minutes later, it might be null and void,” Rohrbach said.

Shortly after GJR talked to Rohrbach, the Department of Education told schools that they must either sign a certification that they have ended DEI or lose federal funds.

Chicago-based freelance reporter Matt Krupnick, who has been covering higher education for over 20 years, also said covering education changes under Trump so far has been “significantly different” than his previous term, who also described the changes as “fast and furious.”

“I think it’s fair to say that our democracy is facing challenges like it never has before,” Krupnick said. In March he covered the effects the Trump administration’s education decisions are having on Tribal colleges for ProPublica.

Some educators feel that the journalism they are consuming is missing some key narratives about how some of the Trump administration’s proposed changes could impact their students’ lives.

Jennifer Adam is the union president for St. Charles Education Association in Illinois, which oversees 18 attendance centers in her district, several of which receive Title I funding. Adam said from the stories she reads — ranging from national to local outlets — she feels they are not fully informing the public of the “catastrophic impact this could have on our learners.”

Rohrbach described the media she consumes around the changes as “painting broad strokes,” without addressing specific needs that are met by federal funding to schools, like food for food-insecure students, shoes for gym class and communication devices for kids who need them, and the overarching chaos these changes would cause in their schools if put into law.

At Troy Cronin Elementary School in Shoreville, Illinois, another Title I school, librarian Jill Scarcelli said its Title I funds are used to “purchase books that that students can see themselves in,” books that celebrate diverse identities. The proposed cuts to funds have Scarcelli feeling “extremely scared,” she said. Scarcelli also serves as the education support professional council chair for Illinois Education Association.

“I don’t think that we’re seeing enough individualized stories on what the specifics could look like for people,” said Rohrbach, who also serves on the board of directors for the IEA.

The uncertainty institutions face is the same that education journalists are facing, said Jesse, adding that the best journalism — from student papers to national networks — is diving into the impact for their readers.

“I think even in these times of uncertainty, it’s even more important to be able to have that independent press to look around and to continue to shine the light in the dark corners,” said Jesse, who has been covering education since 2006.

Though Adam and Rohrbach are hoping to see stories that are more nuanced, education journalists like Krupnick said that lack of communication from the federal government — to both himself and institutions he covers — creates an issue. But another roadblock he and other reporters are facing is peoples’ fear of speaking out.

Even Krupnick’s established sources whom he has spoken to for years, both on and off the record, have become silent.

“I’ve definitely noticed that there’s a real change in how people are feeling about being transparent and public about their statements,” Krupnick said.

This is something both Smith Richards and Jesse said they have encountered, too.

“I think that there are people that we encounter who are fearful of speaking out against the vision that the president has for American schools,” Smith Richards said. “There are people who have expressed those fears to us on the condition that we not identify them.”

And this issue isn’t unique to Krupnick, Smith Richards and Jesse.

“Knowledge and transparency are just such important factors in democracy,” Krupnick said. “And I’m just like, ‘tell me what’s going on, and we’ll let people know about it.’ And that’s more a measure of protection than being silent about it.”

Issues like the Trump administration’s $400 million cut to federal funding for Columbia University and the Education Department’s investigation into Denver Public Schools bathrooms have been well-covered, said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

But Valant said there are other questions and issues that need more coverage, including threats to DEI and gender issues in schools, as well as funding that has been withheld from programs like Head Start.

Valant is particularly concerned about the number of schools and institutions that are already complying to Trump’s executive orders out of fear of what could happen that could end up getting knocked down in court.

“I think we could be doing a better job of understanding not just the places where there are open investigations, but trying to understand how the education systems as a whole are responding to just the threat and uncertainty surrounding what’s been going on in Washington,” he explained.

The press is playing a critical role in helping shape the public’s understanding of people working in education systems, Valant said, but should focus on speaking to people and groups who are operating in educational spaces with uncertainty.

“I think one of the most important functions right now of education journalism is speaking as clearly as possible to those groups about what situation they are in, and then trying to listen to those voices to understand how they’re processing this, and how any decisions they’re making now might be affecting students in schools,” he said.

Up until now, Smith Richards said she and other education journalists have been focused on what changes are happening at the federal level, but, “going forward, whether people feel comfortable speaking out or not, it still will be our duty to explain what the impact of policy changes and the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education means to the students and schools and families that experience those changes,” she said.

Lorenzo Baber, director of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said he’d like to see more nuanced coverage of the research sectors that could be impacted if federal funding were to be cut.

“It’s not just funding that helps support research for the sake of research, it’s research for practical applications across a width of industries, from manufacturing to farming to science and technology. And so I think that’s where I would say, as a scholar, I’d like to see a little bit more coverage in that area,” explained Baber, who also holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Though Krupnick said he thinks all reporters should be monitoring these changes closely, sometimes his brain needs a break from consuming politics, just like his readers’ might, too.

Even with looming uncertainty and the rapid speed of changes, Smith Richards said most journalists she knows, herself included, are committed to documenting changes and what they mean for schools, students and families.

“Regardless of whether people feel comfortable going on the record and talking to journalists, we will continue to do our job and document the impact of the changes being made,” Smith Richards said.

Allie Miller is a Pittsburgh-based freelance journalist.