Lindsey Burke, the author of Chapter 11 in Project 2025—which advocates dismantling the federal Department of Education by defunding public schools and funneling taxpayer dollars toward private Christian school-choice programs—has just been appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. In this influential role, Burke is expected to spearhead sweeping reforms: shrinking the federal role in public education while directing funding into private and Christian schooling initiatives, a strategic move that aligns directly with her conservative blueprint and signals a significant shift in national education priorities.
On June 9, 2025, Education Week, a national resource providing news and information regarding K-12 education, published the following:
• “The U.S. Department of Education has hired a Project 2025 author whose chapter of the conservative policy document proposed dismantling the federal agency, phasing out Title I funding for schools, and scaling back other federal involvement in education.” [1]
• “Lindsey Burke will join the Education Department as deputy chief of staff for policy and programs, the department announced late last week. Burke arrives after 17 years at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that published the 900-page Project 2025 policy blueprint that became a major source of debate during the 2024 presidential campaign.” [1]
• “As director of the group’s center for education policy, Burke wrote a 44-page chapter on what a conservative president should do with the Department of Education. Her appointment comes as Trump has already begun to embrace plans outlined in the document.” [1]
• “Burke’s chapter on the Education Department proposes a seismic overhaul of the federal education infrastructure—converting … the two largest sources of federal education money, to ‘no-strings-attached’ block grants to states that could even flow directly to parents to spend outside of public schools; moving the department’s various services to other federal agencies; and using federal funds to expand school choice.” [1]
In the context of “using federal funds to expand school choice,” Project 2025 is talking about shifting taxpayer dollars away from traditional public schools and redirecting them toward private, charter, or religious schools. This is about giving billions of dollars to the churches to educate our children through school vouchers, education savings accounts, or tax credits. This plan aims to give parents more choices by allowing them to use public funds to enroll their children in non-governmental institutions.
When church-owned educational systems begin receiving large sums of federal funding, they risk becoming financially dependent on the very government from which they were once separate. This dependency creates a powerful temptation to avoid criticizing or resisting federal policies, even if those policies conflict with the institution’s religious convictions. The expression “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” becomes a sobering reality, as churches will feel compelled to compromise their principles or remain silent in order to preserve their financial lifeline. We saw this happen during Covid, in which the major denominations conformed with the abusive government mandates in exchange for continued financial support.
Brothers and sisters, let us not be deceived—the devil is seeking to infiltrate and control the churches, and one of the surest, most effective ways to do it is through government money. The quickest way to surrender our spiritual independence is to open the door to federal or state funding. When our mission projects, church schools, hospitals, and relief agencies begin relying on tax dollars as their primary lifeline, we cease to be the church of the living God and become little more than an agent of the state. At that point, we are no longer led by the Spirit—we are managed by government mandates. We must not sell our birthright for a bowl of federal soup.
“As Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Hebrews 12:16-17.
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