Trump Education Dept. slashes over $600M in grants for 'divisive' race-based teacher trainings
The U.S. Department of Education terminated over $600 million in grants that the agency said were hyper-fixated on race and involved training educators and institutions on "divisive ideologies."
In a Monday announcement, the department asserted that the grants awarded to teacher preparation programs contained "inappropriate and unnecessary topics," such as critical race theory, diversity, equity, and inclusion, social justice activism and anti-racism.
The department also claims that several of the defunded programs included instruction on white privilege and white supremacy. Other defunded programs contained teacher recruitment and staffing strategies based on race.
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One of the grant applications focused on teacher preparation and taught trainees how to "take personal and institutional responsibility for systemic inequities (e.g., racism) and critically reassess their own practices," according to the department.
Another grant application cited in the announcement sought to teach how to acknowledge and respond to "systemic forms of oppression and inequity," highlighting racism, "homophobia," "gender-based" discrimination and ageism as examples.
"Building historical and sociopolitical understandings of race and racism to interrupt racial marginalization and oppression of students in planning instruction relationship building discipline and assessment," the department cited from another program description.
Savannah Newhouse, an Education Department spokesperson, told The Christian Post that the cuts are part of an effort to ensure that "taxpayer dollars are used wisely to strengthen America’s education system."
“As The Nation’s Report Card (NAEP) recently indicated, America’s students are falling dangerously behind in math and reading," Newhouse stated. "Teacher prep programs should be prioritizing training that prepares youth with the fundamentals they need to succeed for the future, not wasting valuable training resources on divisive ideologies."
Erika Sanzi, director of outreach for the conservative advocacy group Parents Defending Education, told CP it's "hard to overstate how radical these teacher trainings are."
"[W]e are talking about forcing teachers to talk about their race at work, asking educators to 'take personal and institutional responsibility for systemic inequities,' promoting abolitionist teaching practices and defining equity as equal outcomes," Sanzi said. "And not for nothing but all we see are declining outcomes for the students that these trainings purport to help most."
Other defunded programs offered professional development workshops on "Building Cultural Competence," "Dismantling Racial Bias" and "Centering Equity in the Classroom," according to the Education Department.
The decision to terminate over $600 million in grants for educator training programs follows a Friday letter that the department's Office of Civil Rights sent to academic institutions and state education agencies that receive federal funding.
In the letter, Craig Trainor, the department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights, warned that these institutions could lose federal funding if they did not eliminate their DEI programs within the next two weeks.
"The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation's educational institutions. The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent," the document stated.
Trainor's letter pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which found that race-based college admissions standards are unlawful under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
While the ruling applied to admissions, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights argued in the letter that the court's ruling applies "more broadly." Trainor contends that educational institutions cannot "separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race."
According to the letter, DEI programs uplift certain racial groups while teaching that others who belong to different racial categories bear "unique moral burdens" that other groups do not. These programs, Trainor argued, "stigmatize" students of certain racial groups and deny them the ability "to participate fully in the life of a school."
"The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation's educational institutions," the letter stated. "The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent."
"All students are entitled to a school environment free from discrimination. The Department is committed to ensuring those principles are a reality," Trainor's letter continued.
The School Superintendents Association, an advocacy group working on behalf of school system leaders, urges its members not to cut such programs and believes the Trump administration's guidance can be successfully challenged in court. The association contends that no federal law prevents teaching about race-related topics and that any attempt to prevent such discussions would "violate a host of federal laws and raise First Amendment issues."
"It is also important for districts to remember that there is a long-drawn out process for rescinding funding for failure to comply with civil rights laws," the association stated in a Monday statement. "OCR must first initiate a compliance review or other investigation, actually investigate the complaint, including allowing the educational institution to submit data and a legal response to the allegations, and make a finding that the institution or agency has violated the law."
The OCR typically offers the institution or agency "the opportunity to voluntarily enter into a resolution agreement that spells out the corrective actions needed before threatening federal funding."
"If the district chooses not to enter into a resolution agreement, it has the right to due process in administrative court before any action is taken to suspend, terminate or withhold federal funding," the association's statement reads. "Finally, the district can also have the option to challenge OCR's interpretation of Title VI in federal court."
Throughout the 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump promised to abolish the Education Department and enable states to fund their own education systems.
In January, Trump directed the U.S. Department of Education and several other federal agencies to look for ways to expand school choice. The executive order titled "Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families" cited the results from a recent National Assessment of Educational Progress as the reason for the action.
"Parents want and deserve the best education for their children. But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school," the order stated. "According to this year's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
