Trump gives schools for 10 days to eliminate Dei or lose federal funding

The Trump administration has increased pressure on kindergarten schools to the 12th year in California and across the country to eliminate diversity, actions and inclusion practices by giving districts and states a period of 10 days to certify their compliance or risk losing any federal funding.

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.

Trump and his appointed people have repeatedly threatened the state authorities and local authorities with federal funding discreets if they do not meet his decrees and by the legal interpretations of his administration.

Thursday memo accumulates pressure following a letter of February 14, in which the American Ministry of Education said to all school districts from kindergarten to 12th year and higher education establishments to end the use of race in “admission, hiring, promotion, remuneration, financial assistance, scholarships, prices, administrative support, discipline, housing Diplomas and all other aspects of the student, school and campus life ”.

The February letter has presented a new federal policy for applying anti-discrimination discrimination, threatening to draw federal dollars from schools that are not online. In the wake of the February letter, the colleges and universities of California and throughout the country have eliminated Dei programs, which refers to it from their websites.

Thursday’s memo pushes the threats to finance a little further by demanding that the education leaders sign a document saying that they had eliminated the programming of I.

“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.”

Thursday morning, the state and local authorities said they were examining and evaluating the service note, and that the comments would be to come.

But a spokesperson for California Department of Education provided a preliminary reaction.

“While we continue to examine this morning’s letter, it seems that it is another attempt to impose a national ideology on local schools by threatening to retain vital resources for students,” said Elizabeth Sanders. “Whatever this letter or any letter, we firmly want the basic needs of the children of our country should not become negotiation schools.”

Another comment came from Tanya Ortiz Franklin, elected member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles school district.

“Instead of wasting time … Collecting signatures, the federal government should focus on maintaining the maintenance and execution of the level of support that our most vulnerable students need the country which will soon depend on their enlightened leadership,” said Franklin.

The chairman of the board of directors of the Chino Valley Unified school district, Sonja Shaw, said that she had argued the idea of ​​the note.

“The Trump administration directive is an essential step in regulating the excessive politicization of our schools,” said Shaw. “We have to resume the basis of education – teach children to read, write and think in a critical way, rather than pushing division ideologies. It is a question of protecting the future of our children by ensuring that their education is not diverted by political agendas which do not belong to the class. ”

Certification orders the leaders of the State and the School to sign a “recall of legal obligations” recognizing that their federal money is conditioned on compliance with federal laws on civil rights.

The certification compliance form included several pages of legal analysis in support of the administration’s requests, which are largely based on the decision of the United States Supreme Court to prohibit positive action in university admissions thanks to a prosecution against the University of Harvard.

Trainor quoted the chief judge of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, who said: “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of this.”

Trainor added that: “No student should be denied opportunities or treat differently because of his race. We hope that all state education agencies and local agree and certify their compliance with this legal and constitutional principle. ”

According to the legal analysis of the administration, schools and states that use DEI practices can face a loss of federal money, including subsidies and contracts, and can also be held responsible for the law on false complaints, which means that an agency could be sanctioned by financial sanctions beyond the loss of federal funding.

Legal analysis specifically mentions the financing of title I as being at risk, which sends billions of dollars a year to American schools to help compensate for the effects of poverty in student education.

California receives around $ 2.1 billion in title I funds, the unified about $ 460 million.

The ministry ordered the state training offices to sign certification and collect certifications to school systems.

The staff editor of the Associate Press, Collin Binkley, contributed to this story.