The judge limits Trump’s ability to retain school funds on

A federal judge of New Hampshire limited Thursday’s ability of the Trump administration to retain the federal funds of public schools which have certain diversity and equity initiatives.

The judge, Landya B. McCAffety, said that the administration had not provided an adequately detailed definition of “diversity, equity and inclusion” and that his policy threatened to restrict freedom of expression in class while going beyond the legal authority of the executive power over local schools.

She also wrote that the loss of federal funding “would paralyze the operations of many educational establishments”.

The decision followed a request earlier this month by the Trump administration that the 50 state education agencies testify that their schools do not use the practices that violate the interpretation of civil rights law by President Trump. Otherwise, they would risk losing billions of dollars in title I money, which is aimed at low -income students. A dozen states, mainly paired Democrats, have refused to sign the document.

By rendering her decision, judge McCafferty refused to issue a national break on politics. Instead, it has limited its decision to schools that employ or contract with at least one member of the groups that brought a trial: the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the country and the Center for Black Educator Development, a non -profit organization that seeks to recruit and train black teachers.

NEA has around three million members, some of which in states that prohibit teachers from collective negotiations. Most school districts may be affected by the decision.