California opposed the Trump administration on Friday to prove that the state’s 1,000 school districts have ended all diversity, equity and inclusion programs despite the federal threat of cutting billions of dollars in education funding if the state is not compliant.
The U.S. Department of Education has given states until April 24th to collect accreditations from all school districts in the country. Such programs are a form of racially-based discrimination and confirm that all DEI efforts are excluded as they argue that they violate civil rights laws.
In a letter to the district chief on Friday, the California Department of Education (CDE) defended the legality of DEI’s efforts.
“There’s nothing in state or federal law… it prohibits the broad concepts of “diversity,” “equity,” or “inclusion,” the Deputy Director wrote. David Shapira in letters to the school district, county education department and charter schools.
The CDE also wrote to the U.S. Department of Education about its decision not to comply, saying the federal government’s demands were vague.
“What specific program or activity is unknown [the federal agency] Requests for certification aim to refer to “specific DEI practices” or “illegal DEIs.” It doesn’t define anything like that…”
Federal funds for education are difficult to arrive by calculating multiple channels, but some tallies amount to $16.3 billion per year in California. These include school lunches, students with disabilities, and the Early Education Head Start Program. The Los Angeles Unified School District estimates that it will receive approximately $1.26 billion a year for less than 10% of its annual budget.
Sixteen states are trying to comply with the orders, including New Hampshire, North Carolina and Texas. Ten people, including New York, Wisconsin and Oregon, refused, according to state-by-state trackers compiled by News Site Education Week.
The California decision foresaw an April 4 letter to school leaders that the district regularly and regularly adheres to federal laws, and that it has “already submitted such guarantees,” and that compliance is “supervised annually through multiple accounting mechanisms.”
The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to California’s decision on Friday.
However, Social Media Education Secretary Linda McMahon praised Puerto Rico’s compliance with U.S. territory. She also praised New Hampshire for posting accreditations from individual school districts.
A small number of California school systems are managed by Pro Trump’s leadership. These include Chino Valley Unity, which bypasses state education officials and is directly accredited to federal officials.
“This was easy for us,” said Sonja Shaw, chairman of the school board. “I want to make it absolutely clear: our focus remains where it belongs – reading, writing, mathematics and achieving the best results for our students… not California’s ideology and schizophrenia; [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and his peers keep pushing. ”
Federal demand followed a letter on February 14th, when the U.S. Department of Education told all K-12 school districts and higher education institutions to end race considerations with “admission, employment, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, administrative assistance, discipline, housing, graduation and all other aspects of students and academics.”
Since then, many colleges and universities across California and across the country have eliminated diversity efforts and reduced references from websites.
Certification demand is the next step in the enforcement process, federal officials said.
“Federal financial aid is a privilege, not a right,” a trainer for Craig, assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. He said many schools downplay their legal obligations by “including using the DEI program to include discriminating against one group of Americans and supporting another.”
The accreditation form includes several pages of legal analysis that upholds the administration’s demands based on the US Supreme Court’s decision to ban positive cases in university admissions through litigation against Harvard University.
The trainer cited Secretary John G. Roberts Jr. He said:
However, following the inferences from other states refusing to comply, California challenged the trainer’s conclusions in a letter to the U.S. Department of Education on April 11.
“We’re worried about that [the Department of Education] It appears they are about to change the terms of the California award without a formal management process,” the letter states. The US agency “cannot change legal guarantees and cannot impose new requirements on recipients without complying with rulemaking procedures.”
The letter has been signed by Ren Garfinkel, general advisor to the California Department of Education, and Kirin K. Gill, chief advisor to the state board of education.
In their denial, New York officials directly challenged the connection to the Supreme Court case cited by trainers.
A recent statement from LA Unified said the school system would follow state guidance when complying with federal laws, addressing the issue with caution, and addressing the issue carefully.
The Trump administration is issuing similar threats to school funding for school districts and states than policies related to transgender student and sex education curricula. On Friday, the department announced enforcement action against Maine, which could lead to withdrawing federal education funds.
In another action, federal officials have launched an investigation by the California Department of Education allegedly withheld information from parents about changes in a child’s gender identity.
Federal officials argue that California law, known as the safety law, violates federal laws that guarantee access to parents’ children’s school records. They say that family education rights and federal laws called Privacy Act or Phelpa take precedence.
On Friday, state education officials also responded to the investigation by defending state law.
“There is no conflict between California safety law and Phelpa,” state sut, national leader Tony Thurmond.
“Today, California has confirmed the existing and continuous compliance with federal law while maintaining the course to move the needle for all students,” Thurmond said. “Our response to the U.S. Department of Education is not illegal about broad core values such as diversity, equity and inclusion, as the obvious texts in state and federal law affirm.”
He added: “We are proud of our students, educators and school community. They continue to focus on teaching and learning, despite the aim of federal actions to distract and disrupt.”
Times staff writer Daniel Miller contributed to this report.
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