On Thursday, the federal Department of Education sent a letter to local school systems nationwide telling them that they must confirm their conformity with Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights act, which bars discrimination based on race, gender, and identity.  ,
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” The use of certain DEI practices may violate federal law … The continued use of illegal DEI methods may issue the person or institution using such techniques to serious consequences”, including the loss of federal funds and litigation, the observe to schools said.
The state of New York, for one, plans to challenge the certification purchase.
New York State Education Department director J. P.O’Hare said New York had previously informed the Education Department that it was in conformity.
” Given that the]U. S. Department of Education ] is already in custody of the offers by]New York schools], no more certification will remain forthcoming”, he said in a statement.
Daniel Morton-Bentley, the assistant director for constitutional affairs at the condition education agency, wrote in a letter to national education department officials,” we understand that the present administration seeks to delete anything it deems’ diversity, equity &, inclusion.'”
” But there are no federal or state laws prohibiting the rules of DEI”, Morton-Bentley wrote. That’s definitely true to a place. The issue isn’t the rules of DEI. The problem is in how those rules are put into practice and the biased means DEI laws are enforced.
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There’s more backlash from Mayor Brandon Johnson in Chicago, who said the town would go to court to reduce the federal government from taking money away from Chicago classrooms for not complying with the DEI executive order.
” We’re not going to be intimidated by these threats”, Johnson said. ” It’s just that easy. So whatever it is that this despot is trying to do to this town, we’re going to struggle back”.
The Education Department wasn’t threatening people. It was putting colleges on realize that it would enforce the law.  ,
The Trump government’s note used a broad view of a Supreme Court decision in 2023 that declared race-based affirmative action programs were immoral at colleges and universities. That decision did not address problems involving K-12 schools.
The wide argument did not sit nicely with New York. The country’s letter argued that the situation did” not have the symbolic importance that you have assigned it” — and that federal officials were free to make plan pronouncements, but” cannot combine policy with law”.
Mr. Morton-Bentley also called out what he described as an about-face within the top ranks of the administration.
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Indeed, Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education in the first Trump administration, once told staff that “diversity and inclusion are the cornerstones of high organizational performance”. She also said that “diversity and inclusion are key elements for success” for” building strong teams”.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion policies today are several orders of magnitude different from those of just seven or eight years ago. The Biden administration’s fanaticism on DEI led to a skewing of school academic standards that cheapened the whole purpose of Title VI and made a mockery of the idea of equal rights.  ,
New York and Chicago’s challenge to the DEI executive order is spitting in the wind.  ,
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