The Trump administration has increased the pressure on K-12 schools in California and across the nation to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion practices by giving districts and states a deadline of 10 days to certify their compliance or risk losing all federal funding.
Although federal funding for education is challenging to calculate and arrives through multiple channels, some tallies put the figure at $16.3 billion per year in California — including money for school meals, students with disabilities and early education Head Start programs. The Los Angeles Unified School District has estimated that it receives about $1.26 billion a year.
Trump and his appointees have repeatedly threatened state and local officials with federal funding cuts if they don’t abide by his executive orders and by his administration’s legal interpretations.
The Thursday memo ratchets up pressure following a Feb. 14 letter, in which the U.S. Department of Education told all K-12 school districts and higher education institutions to end the use of race in “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”
The February letter laid out a new federal anti-discrimination enforcement policy, threatening to pull federal dollars from schools that do not fall in line. In the wake of the February letter, colleges and universities in California and throughout the country have eliminated DEI programs, scrubbing references to it from their websites.
The Thursday memo takes the threats to funding one step further by demanding that education leaders sign a document saying they have eliminated DEI programming.
“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. He said many schools have flouted their legal obligations, “including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another.”
On Thursday morning, state and local officials said they were reviewing and assessing the memo, and that comments would be forthcoming.
But a spokesperson for the California Department of Education provided a preliminary reaction.
“While we are continuing to review this morning’s letter, it appears to be yet another attempt to impose a national ideology on local schools by threatening to withhold vital resources for students,” said Elizabeth Sanders. “Regardless of this or any letter, we hold firm that basic needs of our nation’s children must not become bargaining chips.”
Another comment came from Tanya Ortiz Franklin, an elected board member of the L.A. Unified School District.
“Instead of wasting the time … collecting signatures, the federal government should be focused on maintaining and executing the level of support our most vulnerable students require from the country that will soon depend on their educated leadership,” Franklin said.
Chino Valley Unified School District board president Sonja Shaw said she supported the thrust of the memo.
“The Trump administration’s directive is a critical step in reigning in the excessive politicization of our schools,” Shaw said. “We need to get back to the basics of education — teaching kids how to read, write, and think critically, rather than pushing divisive ideologies. This is about protecting the future of our children by ensuring their education isn’t hijacked by political agendas that don’t belong in the classroom.”
The certification directs state and school leaders to sign a “reminder of legal obligations” acknowledging their federal money is conditioned on compliance with federal civil rights laws.
The certification compliance form included several pages of legal analysis in support of the administration’s demands, which are based, in large part, on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action in college admissions through a lawsuit brought against Harvard University.
Trainor quoted Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who said: “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”
Trainor added that, “No student should be denied opportunities or treated differently because of his or her race. We hope all State and Local Education Agencies agree and certify their compliance with this legal and constitutional principle.”
According to the administration’s legal analysis, schools and states that use DEI practices can face a loss of federal money, including grants and contracts, and also can be held liable under the False Claims Act, meaning that an agency could be sanctioned with financial penalties beyond the loss of federal funding.
The legal analysis specifically mentions Title I funding as being at risk, which sends billions of dollars a year to America’s schools to help offset the effects of poverty in the education of students.
California receives about $2.1 billion in Title I funds, L.A. Unified about $460 million.
The department ordered state education offices to sign the certification and collect certifications from school systems.
Associated Press staff writer Collin Binkley contributed to this story.
