Donald Trump’s crusade against DEI is coming to a head and it appears that a huge public fight is about to take place between the administration and the Department of Education.
According to NPR, the Department of Education has been issued an ultimatum via a nationally distributed letter addressed to state leaders stating that if a certification to end DEI programs is not signed in 10 days, the federal government will withdraw funding for public schools. At this time, the federal government’s Title 1 grants account for roughly 10% of public school funding (the other 90% is accounted for by the individual states), and that percentage equals $18.38 billion, which 90% of schools rely on for resources. One might argue that 10% isn’t that significant, but considering that many public schools have been underfunded for years and continue to be so, they cannot afford to part ways with a single penny that is used to help educate our children, many of them underprivileged.
Trump doesn’t care about that. He just wants the bamboozled MAGA devotees to feel good about the removal of DEI. Much like the Michael Jordan meme, the Trump administration’s official policy is “f*** them kids.”
Here is the Republican spin on Trump’s racist policy:
“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. “When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements. Unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics.”
What is being done to combat this heinous withholding of funds? Well, the American Federation of Teachers has filed a lawsuit against the department to block the new interpretation of civil rights guidelines.
“In the middle of a school year, the president is trying to bully the very same school districts that he insisted, just a few weeks ago, should be in charge of education,” the AFT’s president, Randi Weingarten said in a statement. “He’s wielding a cudgel of billions in federal aid to tens of millions of children, of all races and ethnicities, to force educators to kowtow to his politics and ideology.”
This is why conservatives cannot be trusted with policy decisions. They are hypocrites of the highest order who complain about restriction of “freedom” out of one side of their necks, then attempt to force their twisted ethos onto everyone by way of threats.
