Public School Funding Is At Risk Amid Department of Education’s Latest Move

The Department of Education recently announced a new directive for public schools to eliminate their diversity and inclusion programs or risk losing federal funding. 

“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” Craig Trainor, the acting assistant education secretary for civil rights, said in a statement following the announcement. 

The memo was sent out on the heels of President Trump’s “Liberation Day,” which saw the President sign tariffs against 180 countries in the Rose Garden. While the impact on the global markets has been dominating the news cycle, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has grabbed a headline or two herself. 

McMahon co-founded what is now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) with her husband, Vince McMahon, in 1980. A highly influential figure in WWE, the current US Secretary of Education made several on-screen appearances over the years. 

Now, as a member of the first reality television president’s cabinet, McMahon will not be ignored. Last Tuesday, McMahon met with a group of House Democrats concerned with the department’s announcement last month that it would possibly be laying off 50 percent of its workforce.

The House Democrats had planned to address the press following the meeting until McMahon abruptly announced she would be making a statement. After speaking about how important she believes “the education of our young people” to be, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) asked the Secretary, “When are you going to shut down the department?”

“We had our discussion, so thank you all very, very much for coming,” McMahon replied before exiting the presser. 

For context, a week before that, the President signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education in its entirety. The move appears to be more symbolic than practical, as abolishing a federal agency would require Congressional approval. 

With the recent memo threatening to withhold federal funding from US public schools, McMahon has established that the Department of Education not only still exists despite Trump’s executive order, but it will be using its authority to further the President’s agenda. 

To enforce the administration’s anti-DEI policies, the Department of Education says it will send a certification letter to state and local school officials that must be signed and returned to the Department within 10 days. 

It seems simple enough, but the Secretary and her staff have struggled to define which programs would violate the policy. 

During her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she approved of schools observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. However, when asked about Black History Month by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), whom McMahon lost her 2nd Senate bid to in 2012, she answered, “I’m not quite certain, and I’d like to look into it further.”

The Department of Education recently tried to clarify its civil rights policies in a letter titled “Dear Colleague” and then in an FAQ responding to confusion. So, now “educational, cultural, or historical observances—such as Black History Month, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or similar event,” are okay, but programs or policies described as “social-emotional learning” or “culturally responsive” may not be. 

“Many schools have advanced discriminatory policies and practices under the banner of ‘DEI’ initiatives,” the statement explained. So, even if a school program does not include terminology like “inclusion” or “diversity,” it could still be defunded and even sued by the Department of Justice for breach of contract. 

Reliance on federal funds for education differs vastly from state to state. Some states, like New York, depend very little on federal funds, whereas 23 percent of Mississippi public school funding comes from Washington. If Secretary McMahon is going to make good on these threats, it could be critical for some of the country’s most underserved communities. The vague guidelines and severe consequences coming from the Department of Education present a unique challenge for school administrators. 

“I don’t think that they have a full understanding [of school programs],” Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, told NPR’s Morning Edition last month. 

She went on to point out that these “exclusionary” programs targeted by the Department of Education don’t exist. 

“These are subjective inaccuracies,” she said. “There’s nothing in the guidelines of institutions that said that only these students or only one particular group of students would benefit from this form of program.”

According to the “Dear Colleague” letter, even if open to all students, programs designed to empower minority students “stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes” and thus are considered discriminatory. 

“If they lose their funding, I hope that colleges and institutions do not lose their integrity, their principles, and their values just to appease funding,” says Cynthia Jackson-Hammond.