Education Department Issues Warning to Schools: Ditch DEI or Lose Federal Funding

On Friday, the Department of Education (ED) issued a directive to public schools across the country, ordering them to either abandon diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices or risk the loss of federal funding.

As the Daily Caller reports, the department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, issued a letter saying that “educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices.”

“Under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (‘DEI’),” Trainor’s letter explained, certain individuals and organizations have been “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline.”

While the previous administration vehemently forced such initiatives on public schools in the name of “diversity,” the Trump Administration has declared these practices to be in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As such, any schools that continue to endorse or engage in these programs “may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding,” Trainor declared.

DEI programs often applied to both students and faculty, including influencing hiring decisions that overwhelmingly prioritized non-White minorities over White applicants, even if the former were not as qualified as the latter. In curriculum, DEI lessons would often lecture students about “systemic racism” and “misogyny,” and teach children to hate themselves based on their race and gender. At the college level, DEI would often overlook applications from White and Asian students in favor of minorities who were considered “underrepresented.”

The ED’s letter also referred to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in 2023 banning affirmative action in American universities, which was determined to be unconstitutional due to its racial bias. DEI has long been considered a spiritual successor to affirmative action, often even broader in scope than the original practice.