Sponsor
Burgess Owens
Representative · R-UT
Representative · R-UT
The bill trades stricter limits on using federal education funds to promote specified ideologies and for identity-based preferences in grant awards (aiming for taxpayer neutrality and a level playing field) against reduced ability to fund targeted equity interventions for marginalized students and increased legal and administrative uncertainty.
Taxpayers and grant recipients: federal funds and education grant programs cannot be used to promote specified ideologies, reducing the risk that taxpayer dollars directly fund ideological advocacy.
Eligible applicants: grants will be awarded without formal consideration of applicants' race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status, and agencies are prohibited from favoring organizations based on identity—creating a more neutral, universal competition that can broaden the pool of eligible nonprofits and institutions.
Racial, ethnic, LGBTQ+, and immigrant communities: organizations and school programs tailored to serve marginalized groups may lose eligibility advantages or targeted funding, reducing resources for services designed for those communities.
Students and educators: constraints on funding that consider applicant activities or target equity interventions could limit federal support for specialized, evidence-based programs for historically disadvantaged students, reducing program effectiveness for those who need targeted supports.
Grant applicants and the Department of Education: tying prohibitions to ambiguous terms from executive orders (e.g., 'gender ideology' or 'discriminatory equity ideology') could invite litigation and create compliance uncertainty, raising legal and administrative costs for recipients and the Department.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits use of certain ESEA subpart funds to support two defined ideologies and bars grant-priority based on race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status.
Prohibits use of funds under 20 U.S.C. § 6661 subpart to support two broadly defined ideologies — “discriminatory equity ideology” and “gender ideology” — and bans the Secretary of Education from giving grant-priority based on an applicant’s or those it serves’ race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status. It incorporates the definitions of those ideologies by reference to two Executive Orders. The bill only adds these prohibitions and definitions; it does not appropriate money or create new programs.
Official title: To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prevent the American History and Civics program from funding radical indoctrination, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 7, 2026 by Burgess Owens · Last progress May 7, 2026