in effect
This is Executive Order 14214, signed February 14, 2025 and published in the Federal Register on February 20, 2025. It is a presidential directive stating that the administration opposes schools requiring COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of attending in-person education, and it instructs the Secretary of Education to take steps to end such mandates.
It sets a policy that discretionary federal funds should not go to any school, college, or educational agency that requires students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend in-person programs. It directs the Secretary of Education to issue guidelines “as soon as practicable” telling schools their legal obligations regarding parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection. Within 90 days, the Secretary — consulting with the Secretary of Health and Human Services — must give the President a plan to end these mandates, potentially including proposed legislation. That plan must list the discretionary federal grants and contracts going to non-compliant schools and describe how each agency could withhold or take back federal funds from them. The order itself does not immediately cut any funding; it also states it must follow existing law, depends on available appropriations, and creates no legally enforceable rights.
Public and private K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and state and local educational agencies that require COVID-19 vaccination for in-person attendance are the main targets, along with the federal agencies that fund them. Students and parents facing such requirements are the intended beneficiaries. Schools that keep such mandates could later risk losing discretionary federal grants and contracts, depending on the plan and guidelines that follow.