Trump Administration Targets DEI Efforts in Schools, Threatening Funding","description":"A review of how Washington’s new policy sees diversity programs as illegal, pushing schools toward a reversal of civil rights protections.","summary":"The Trump administration has begun to view historically protected diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in public schools as unlawful, creating lawsuits, funding cuts, and investigations that threaten to undermine gains in racial equity. Congressional and civil‑rights attorneys see this as a stark reversal of decades of federal civil‑rights enforcement.","image":"https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/d0c9f2f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5658x3772+0+0/resize/599x399!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F09%2F55%2Ffbf231d8c1dee9be1d7a88786c77%2Fdac6ee67612244598aa142223e07c899 1x","text":"<p style=\"margin:0;padding:0;color:#1a1a1a;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">Washington’s federal government has historically used civil‑rights laws to dismantle systemic discrimination against Black people and other people of color, demanding desegregation and holding schools accountable for racial bias. But under the Trump administration, the anti‑bias court is being re‑interpreted, and programs designed to redress inequities are being branded as “illegal DEI.” Schools that refuse to comply now risk losing federal grant money, forcing a reversal of legal history.</p><p style=\"margin:0;padding:0;color:#1a1a1a;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">Civil‑rights attorneys describe the shift as an inversion of the nation’s legal past, with the Justice Department launching investigations into projects that increase the number of teachers of color in districts such as Rhode Island and Iowa, and cutting grants that help districts recruit teachers or school mental‑health workers by citing requirements for diversity in recruitment.</p><p style=\"margin:0;padding:0;color:#1a1a1a;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">“It’s literally flipping the purpose of civil‑rights law on its head, not just harming Black students and students of color, but entire school communities,” said Michael Pillera, director of educational equity issues at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He added that the changes are “unmoored from the actual history of our country.”</p><p style=\"margin:0;padding:0;color:#1a1a1a;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">The Education Department’s stewardship of federally funded programs stresses that they must \"follow the law,\" citing a 1963 prohibition on racial discrimination. Conversely, the Trump Administration has warned districts that differential consideration based on race is unconstitutional, even though the Supreme Court’s rulings on affirmative action apply only to college admissions.</p><p style=\"margin:0;padding:0;color:#1a1a1a;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">The Justice Department’s latest tactics include releasing schools from court‑ordered desegregation plans that date back to the civil‑rights era, describing them as outdated and burdensome, and shutting down magnet‑school programs intended to diversify student bodies. In Los Angeles, the Administration has targeted the PHBAO (Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian or Other Non‑Anglo) designation, which has been in place for decades and grants special resources to schools where at least 70% of the zoned population are students of color.</p><p style=\"margin:0;padding:0;color:#1a1a1a;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">An assistant U.S. attorney released a statement that the LAUSD’s desegregation program was “unconstitutional,” but civil‑rights advocates, like attorney Mark Rosenbaum, insist that desegregation still required government action, noting that opponents have always argued for resources instead of desegregation itself.</p><p style=\"margin:0;padding:0;color:#1a1a1a;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">At the same time, LAUSD’s Black Student Achievement Plan has faced backlash from a Virginia‑based conservative group that alleges discrimination against non‑Black students, prompting the Office for Civil Rights to investigate. Los Angeles Unified officials have responded by dropping Black‑enrollment weighting in evaluations and citing metrics such as absenteeism and low test scores, but the Office for Civil Rights has yet again opened an investigation following a refiled complaint.</p><p style=\"margin:0;padding:0;color:#1a1a1a;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\">These actions illustrate a broader policy shift that is placing one of the United States’ most historically vulnerable groups in jeopardy. If the Trump Administration’s approach persists, programs designed to lift Black, Latino, and other people of color out of achievement gaps may ultimately be deemed unconstitutional, reversing the gains law has protected for nearly six decades.</p>
