On Friday, California challenged a Trump administration order to certify that the 1,000 state school districts ended all diversity, equity and inclusion programs despite federal threats to reduce billions of dollars in education if the state does not comply.
The American Department of Education gave states until April 24 to collect certifications from each school district of the country – confirming that all the efforts of the DEI have been eliminated because it claims that these programs are a form of discrimination based on race and violated civil rights laws.
In a letter to the Suraningants of the School District on Friday, California Department of Education, or CDE, defended the legality of the efforts.
“There is nothing in state or federal law … which prohibits the great concepts of” diversity “, equity” or “inclusion”, wrote the deputy chief. David Schapira in the letter to school districts, county education offices and charter schools.
CDE also sent a letter to the American Ministry of Education on the decision not to comply – and said that the federal request was vague.
“Nor do we know which specific programs or activities (the Federal Agency) are looking to regulate this certification, although the certification request refers to” certain dei “or” illegal “practices”. He does not define such … “
Although federal education funding is difficult to calculate and arrives through channels, some statements put the figure at $ 16.3 billion a year in California – including money for school meals, disabled students and early education programs. The Los Angeles Unified School District estimated that it receives approximately $ 1.26 billion per year, just under 10% of its annual budget.
Sixteen states are trying to comply with the order, including New Hampshire, North Carolina and Texas. Ten others refused – notably New York, Wisconsin and Oregon, according to a state tracker by state compiled by the education week of the information site.
California’s decision was foreshadowed by a letter of April 4 to school heads noting that school districts regularly and regularly claim that they comply with federal law and “have already submitted such insurance” and that compliance is “annual monitoring through … several accounting mechanisms”.
The United States Ministry of Education did not immediately respond to California’s decision on Friday.
However, the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on social networks congratulated the American territory of Puerto Rico for complining. She also congratulated the New Hampshire for having published the certifications of individual school districts.
A small number of California school systems are controlled by pro-Trump leadership. These include Chino Valley Unified, which bypassed state education officials and directly certified to federal officials.
“It was obvious to us,” said the president of the school board, Sonja Shaw, who is a republican candidate for the superintendent of state public education. “I want to make it clearly clearly: our goal remains at his apartment – reading, writing, mathematics and achieving the best results for our students … Not in ideologies and division that California’s state, (Gov.) Gavin Newsom and his friends continue to push.”
The federal request follows a letter of February 14 in which the American department of education said to all school districts of kindergarten to the 12th year and higher education establishments to end the race in “admissions, hiring, promotion, remuneration, financial aid, scholarships, prices, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies and all other Aspects of students, academic life and campus ”. »»
Since then, many colleges and universities in California and throughout the country have eliminated diversity efforts, rubbing the references of their websites.
The certification request is a next step in the application process, said federal officials.
“Federal financial aid is a privilege, not a right,” said Craig Trainor, acting deputy secretary of civil rights, in a statement. He said that many schools have flouted their legal obligations, “including using Dei programs to discriminate a group of Americans to promote another.”
The certification form includes several pages of legal analysis in support of the requests of the administration, which are largely based on the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States to prohibit positive action in university admissions thanks to a trial against the University of Harvard.
Trainor cited chief judge John G. Roberts Jr., who said: “The elimination of racial discrimination means eliminating all of this.”
But following the reasoning of other states that refuse to comply, California challenged train findings in its letter of April 11 at the United States Ministry of Education.
“We fear that (the Ministry of Education) apparently seeks to modify the terms and conditions of California’s reward without formal administrative process,” said the letter. The American agency “cannot make changes to legal insurance and impose new requirements on the beneficiaries without adhering to the procedures for developing rules”.
The letter is signed by Len Garfinkel, lawyer general of California Department of Education, and by Kirin K. Gill, chief lawyer of the State Board of Education.
In their refusal, New York officials directly challenged the link with the Supreme Court affair cited by Trainor.
A recent Unified Declaration addressed the issue with caution, saying that the school system would follow the state councils to comply with the federal law.
The Trump administration has already issued similar threats to school funding for school districts and states concerning policies related to transgender students and the sex education program. Friday, the ministry announced an action in charge against the state of Maine which could lead to withdraw funding from federal education.
In a separate action, federal officials have launched an investigation into California Department of Education for having allegedly retained information on changes in changes in their child’s gender identity, again with billions of dollars potentially at stake.
Federal officials argue that the Californian law, called the Security Act, violates a federal law which guarantees parents’ access to their child’s school files. They say that the federal law, called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or Ferpa, has priority.
On Friday, state education officials also responded to this survey by defending state law.
“There is no conflict between California Safety Act and Ferpa,” said the state of public education Tony Thurmond.
“Today, California has confirmed the existing and continuous compliance with federal laws while we stay the course to move the needle of all students,” said Thurmond. “As responses to the State of the United States Department of Education, and as the raw text of state and federal laws affirms, there is nothing population for major fundamental values such as diversity, equity and inclusion.”
He added: “I am proud of our students, educators and school communities, who continue to focus on teaching and learning despite federal actions intended to distract and disturb.”
Staff writer Daniel Miller contributed to this report.
California Daily Newspapers
