The Trump administration has increased pressure on K-12 schools in California and K-12 schools across the country to prove their compliance or potentially lose all federal funds by giving districts and stating their deadlines of 10 days.
Although the calculation challenge for federal education funding is calculated and reached through multiple channels, some statistics make that number $16.3 billion a year in California, including money for school meals, students with disabilities and early education head start programs. The Los Angeles Unified School District estimates it earns about $1.26 billion a year.
Trump and his appointees have repeatedly threatened state and local officials to cut federal funding if they do not comply with their executive orders and government legal interpretations.
Thursday’s memorandum exerted pressure after the February 14 letter, the U.S. Department of Education told all K-12 school districts and higher education institutions to end race in “admission, recruitment, promotion, promotion, compensation, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, scholarships, scholarships, scholarships, scholarships, awards, administrative support, administrative support, disciplines, disciplines, housing, graduation ceremonies, graduates and other aspects of students, academic, academic, academic, academic, academic and camping life”, as well as life.
The February letter proposed a new federal anti-discrimination enforcement policy that threatened to withdraw federal funds from schools that did not line up. After the February letter, universities across California and across the country have eliminated the DEI program, scanning references to it from their websites.
Thursday’s memorandum threatened to provide a further step, asking education leaders to sign a document saying they have eliminated DEI programming.
“Federal financial aid is a privilege, not a right,” Craig Trainer, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. Many schools have violated their legal obligations, he said, “including using the DEI program to discriminate against one group of Americans in favor of another.”
On Thursday morning, state and local officials said they were reviewing and evaluating the memorandum, and that the comment would be published.
But a spokesperson for the California Department of Education provided a preliminary response.
“Although we continue to review this morning’s letter, it seems to be another attempt to impose the national ideology of local schools by threatening to retain important resources for students,” said Elizabeth Sanders. “Anyway or any letter, we firmly believe that the basic needs of the children of the nation must not be a bargaining chip.”
Another comment comes from Tanya Ortiz Franklin, an elected board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
“Instead of wasting time … collecting signatures, focus should also be on maintaining and executing the level of support our most vulnerable students demand from the country, which will soon depend on their educated leadership,” Franklin said.
Sonja Shaw, chairman of the board of directors of the Chino Valley Unified School District, said she supports the thrust of the memorandum.
“The Trump administration’s instructions are a key step in ruling overpoliticization of our schools,” said Shaw. “We need to go back to the basics of education – teaching children how to read, write and think, rather than pushing a split ideology. It’s about protecting the future of children by ensuring that political agendas that do not belong to the classroom hijack their education.”
The certification directs state and school leaders to sign a “reminder legal obligation” that recognizes that their federal funding is subject to compliance with federal civil rights laws.
The certification compliance form includes several pages of legal analysis to support the government’s demands, which is largely based on the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to prohibit affirmative action in college admission through a lawsuit filed against Harvard.
Trainor quoted Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as saying: “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of this.”
Trainor added: “No student should be deprived of opportunities or treated differently due to his or her race. We hope that all state and local educational institutions will agree and demonstrate that they comply with that law and constitutional principles.”
According to government legal analysis, schools and states that use DEI practices may face losses in federal funds, including grants and contracts, and may also be liable under the False Claims Act, meaning fiscal fines outside the agency can be approved instead of losing federal funds.
Legal analysis specifically mentions Title I funds are at risk, which are sent to U.S. schools every year to help offset the impact of poverty in student education.
California received about $2.1 billion in title funding, while Los Angeles unified about $460 million.
The department ordered the state office of education to sign up for certification and collect certification from the school system.
Associated Press staff writer Collin Binkley contributed to the story.
