WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that every public school in America is “on notice,” arguing that telling a child they are “trapped in the wrong body” amounts to child abuse.
The remark came during a back-to-school event in the White House Rose Garden with Education Secretary Linda McMahon, parents and students. Trump tied the warning to earlier executive actions that, he said, ban “transgender ideology” and critical race theory from public schools and keep men out of women’s sports.
“Every public school in America is now on notice that if they tell a child they are trapped in the wrong body, they are committing child abuse,” Trump said.
The appearance was billed as a celebration of the new school year and of the administration’s education agenda. That agenda includes a federal Education Freedom tax credit of up to $1,700 for scholarships, larger charter school funding, and an effort to shrink the Education Department and shift more control to states.
McMahon has separately said schools that “subject children to radical experiments and sideline parents” risk losing federal funding. Education Week reported that, as of Aug. 18, the department had opened at least 208 investigations tied to core Trump education priorities, including policies on transgender students.
Trump’s line restates a position he has taken since early in his second term, including a January 2025 executive order on “ending radical indoctrination” in K-12 schools. Monday’s remarks did not announce a new criminal statute. Child abuse remains defined by state law. The main federal lever the administration has described is funding and civil rights enforcement.
Supporters say the policy restores parental control and keeps schools focused on reading and math. Critics say it chills teachers, puts transgender students at risk, and uses federal money to police classroom speech. Those debates are already in the courts and in statehouses, including over sports, bathrooms and whether schools must notify parents about a student’s gender identity.
