Judges blocks Trump push to cut funding to public schools over diversity
programs
[April 25, 2025]
By HOLLY RAMER and COLLIN BINKLEY
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump
administration directives that threatened to cut federal funding for
public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the National Education
Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the
Republican administration of giving “unconstitutionally vague” guidance
and violating teachers’ First Amendment rights.
A second judge in Maryland on Thursday postponed the effective date of
some U.S. Education Department anti-DEI guidance, and a third judge in
Washington, D.C., blocked another provision from taking effect.
In February, the department told schools and colleges they needed to end
any practice that differentiates people based on their race. Earlier
this month, it ordered states to gather signatures from local school
systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the
rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.”
The directives do not carry the force of law but threaten to use civil
rights enforcement to rid schools of DEI practices. Schools were warned
that continuing such practices “in violation of federal law” could lead
to U.S. Justice Department litigation and a termination of federal
grants and contracts.
U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty in New Hampshire said the
April letter does not make clear what the department believes a DEI
program entails or when it believes such programs cross the line into
violating civil rights law. “The Letter does not even define what a ‘DEI
program’ is,” McCafferty wrote.
The judge also said there is reason to believe the department's actions
amount to a violation of teachers' free speech rights.
“A professor runs afoul of the 2025 Letter if she expresses the view in
her teaching that structural racism exists in America, but does not do
so if she denies structural racism’s existence. That is textbook
viewpoint discrimination,” McCafferty wrote.
An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
States were given until the end of Thursday to submit certification of
their schools’ compliance, but some have indicated they would not comply
with the order. Education officials in some Democratic-led states have
said the administration is overstepping its authority and that there is
nothing illegal about DEI.
The Feb. 14 memo from the department, formally known as a “Dear
Colleague” letter, said schools have promoted DEI efforts at the expense
of white and Asian American students. It dramatically expands the
interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court decision barring the use of race
in college admissions to all aspects of education, including, hiring,
promotion, scholarships, housing, graduation ceremonies and campus life.
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President Donald Trump holds a signed an executive order relating to
school discipline policies as Education Secretary Linda McMahon
listens in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23,
2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In the ruling in Maryland, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher
postponed that memo. She found it was improperly issued and forces
teachers to choose between “being injured through suppressing their
speech or through facing enforcement for exercising their
constitutional rights.” That suit was filed by the American
Federation of Teachers, one of the nation's largest teachers'
unions.
“The court agreed that this vague and clearly unconstitutional
requirement is a grave attack on students, our profession, honest
history and knowledge itself,” Randi Weingarten, president of the
AFT, said in a statement.
A judge in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction
against the certification letter after the NAACP argued it failed to
identify specific DEI practices that would run afoul of the law.
All three lawsuits argue that the guidance limits academic freedom
and is so vague it leaves schools and educators in limbo about what
they may do, such as whether voluntary student groups for minority
students are still allowed.
The April directive asked states to collect the certification form
from local school districts and also sign it on behalf of the state,
giving assurance that schools are in compliance with Title VI of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, has
warned of potential funding cuts if states do not return the form by
Friday.
In a Tuesday interview on the Fox Business Network, McMahon said
states that refuse to sign could “risk some defunding in their
districts.” The purpose of the form is “to make sure there’s no
discrimination that’s happening in any of the schools,” she said.
Schools and states are already required to give assurances to that
effect in separate paperwork, but the new form adds language on DEI,
warning that using diversity programs to discriminate can bring
funding cuts, fines and other penalties.
The form threatens schools’ access to Title I, the largest source of
federal revenue for K-12 education and a lifeline for schools in
low-income areas. ___
Binkley reported from Washington.
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