President Donald Trump’s second first 100 days in office were pretty much what anyone in education could have expected.

Using the bully pulpit of the office and the power of the pen, Trump followed his checklist. He has sought to shut down the U.S. Department of Education. He has escalated the culture wars, targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in K-12 and higher education. He has signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. Supporting private school choice at the national level, Trump also injected himself into Idaho’s debate over private school tax credits.

If any of this came as a surprise, you haven’t been paying attention. And you also weren’t paying attention during the summer of 2024, when Trump foreshadowed all of this. Much of it could be found in Project 2025 — the 922-page conservative playbook that Trump tried, unconvincingly, to disavow.

It’s been an eventful first 100 days, but not an unexpected first 100 days. And, also as expected, it has blurred the lines between federal and Idaho education policy.

Much of what Trump has embraced, and much of what Project 2025 has outlined, has already been on the agenda in Idaho.

Transgender athletics. Idaho passed the first state law along these lines, in 2020. That helps explain why Gov. Brad Little was invited to the White House in February, when Trump signed his national transgender athletics ban.

Private school choice. On the U.S. Department of Education’s website, the administration praises Idaho and other states for “championing school choice in President Trump’s first 100 days.” But there’s a difference between correlation and causation.

Trump’s social media support certainly didn’t hurt Idaho’s $50 million private school tax credit bill, which passed in the Senate a few days later. But the fact is, the Idaho tax credit bill might well have become law without Trump’s intervention. On this issue, the crucial election took place in May, when Republican voters pushed the Legislature even further to the right, replacing several private school choice skeptics with full-throated supporters.

Defunding DEI. The Trump administration has threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that embrace DEI. But that appears to be a moot point in Idaho.

The state has already barred colleges and universities from using taxpayer dollars on DEI programs — and that was before the 2025 Legislature passed a more far-reaching anti-DEI law. And every Idaho school district that receives funding from Uncle Sam has asserted that it is complying with federal antidiscrimination law, suggesting that the Trump administration’s K-12 defunding push could have little effect on funding and local programs.

But even though these federal moves were predictable — and many are squarely in line with Idaho policy — there is still something exhausting about these first 100 days. Perhaps it is a function of magnitude.

As Education Week fittingly put it Tuesday, “The first months of the Trump administration have been unlike the start of any other presidential administration for the nation’s schools, with an unprecedented quantity and velocity of new directives and policy changes.”

It’s been, well, a lot.

With a lot still unresolved.

Trump cannot unilaterally close the Education Department without congressional buy-in.

A nationwide private school choice program would have to go through Congress as well.

The courts have also slowed the White House’s frenzied pace.

Multiple courts have blocked Trump’s attempts to defund DEI — but only after the White House forced Idaho and other states to assert that their schools weren’t engaged in DEI.

The Trump administration also relented on its push to revoke international student visas — but not before five Idaho students faced the loss of their visas. Their legal status has been restored, at least for the time being.

Churn and tumult. Daily disruption. All part of the plan from a president who presents himself as a disruptor.

All of this turmoil might well reshape the education landscape in Idaho, and the education system that awaits the Legislature when it returns in January.

When education policymaking is driven at the state level, there’s a certain ebb and flow to the process. A lot of changes, sometimes transformative, during the three or four months of the legislative session, followed by a less frenetic summer and fall of rollout. All of that feels different this year. This administration’s desire to reshape education policy isn’t bound by the calendar or the season. That portends a turbulent summer and fall, a busy runup to the next legislative session.

A lot of educational change could be thrust upon the states — by an administration that, curiously enough, says it wants to return decisionmaking power to the states.

In his first 100 days, Trump has stuck to predictable themes on education. It’s tougher to predict the outcome.

Kevin Richert writes a weekly analysis on education policy and education politics. Look for his stories each Thursday. Due to the timeliness of the topic, this week’s analysis was published on Wednesday, April 30.