Trump Administration threatens to slash federal funding to KY schools if they teach DEI
U.S. Department of Education officials sent letters to Kentucky and other states Thursday warning if schools pursue diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives they could lose federal funding.
The letter requires state education leaders to certify within 10 days they are complying with federal civil rights laws the department claims prohibits diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. If state education departments fail to do so, they risk losing federal funding, the letter said.
“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a news release.
“When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal anti-discrimination 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 in clear violation of Title VI.”
Title VI is part of the Civil Rights Act.
Kentucky receives more than $1 billion in federal funding for K-12 schools, according to state education budget documents.
“We are reviewing the new information provided by the US Department of Education on April 3, 2025,” Myles Young, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Education, said Friday afternoon.
Fayette County Public Schools spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith said Friday morning, ‘ “What is being discussed and requested by the federal government and the Department of Education in Washington are directed to KDE regarding all statewide, public P-12 schools. It is not for each individual district to respond, but for KDE to respond.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has attacked initiatives related to diversity and inclusion, alleging they are wasteful and discriminatory against white people.
In February, the federal department sent a memo giving state and local school districts 14 days to to end any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race, according to the February memo.
The American Federation of Teachers, a national teachers union, and the American Sociological Association, later filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland that challenged the directive saying it violated the First Amendment protections regarding free speech, among other legal arguments.
That lawsuit is still pending.
The Republican-controlled Kentucky General Assembly also has repeatedly attacked diversity and equity initiatives. Earlier this year, a bill prohibiting DEI in the state’s public universities was passed.
A similar bill addressing DEI in K-12 education failed to pass.
Still, many schools are struggling to determine what is DEI and how state and federal prohibitions against DEI affects or changes curriculum.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, during her confirmation hearing before a Senate committee, said celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Black History month would not violate DEI prohibitions.
But when pressed, McMahon said she did not know if a group of Black engineering students meeting together after school as a club would violate federal anti-DEI initiatives.
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 10:09 AM.
