Quick Take
In a Friday memo from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, federal officials told schools and universities they have two weeks to end all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or risk losing federal funding. Santa Cruz County school and college leaders told Lookout that while the memo is concerning, they believe they’re not at risk of losing funding as they’re following state and federal laws.
After the U.S. Department of Education’s Friday memo gave schools and universities across the country two weeks to end all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives or risk losing federal funding, education leaders in Santa Cruz County say they’re not stopping any programs or practices as they’re compliant with the law.
The Education Department memo says, “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.”
It also says that schools and universities have “toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism.’”
Cabrillo College President Matt Wetstein told Lookout, as did other local education institutions, that their initiatives or programs that promote equity are all in compliance with the law. Wetstein said he is a little concerned about the potential impact to the $6.4 million in federal funds Cabrillo received this year but said the college would appeal any decision to freeze its funds if that happened.
Wetstein added that by teaching the history of the United States, educators are doing their jobs, not indoctrinating.
“I don’t think that teaching about the history of racism in America is a toxic indoctrination,” he said. “We’re a country that has been built upon the backs of slave labor and acknowledging that, and acknowledging the structural racism that comes after it, isn’t a toxic indoctrination. It’s a recognition of the reality of our history.”
The memo from the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights says that federal law prohibits educational institutions from using race to make decisions about admissions, financial aid, prizes, discipline and “all other aspects of student, academic and campus life.” For example, a school that ends standardized testing “to achieve a desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity” is breaking the law, per the memo.
The department will start to assess compliance with the law at the end of February and institutions that aren’t in compliance may “face potential loss of federal funding.”
The 10 school districts in Santa Cruz County receive about $92 million in federal funds for such programs as free and reduced lunch and special education services, according to Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah. The County Office of Education receives about $11.6 million, of which about $4 million it distributes to the school districts for special education programs. The COE’s budget is about $50 million total.
Sabbah said a freeze on federal funds would have a significant impact on the schools, but said the school system is not breaking any laws.
“There [are] statements in [the memo] that infer that certain programs that are being implemented specifically related to diversity, equity and inclusion are illegal,” he said. “And we absolutely believe that all our programs are fully compliant with the law.”
Sabbah said that the COE isn’t stopping any of its programs or initiatives after receiving this memo. He added that concepts like equity are mentioned in almost every project and in the office’s mission.
“When it comes to equity, that’s at the heart of, at the core of everything that we do,” he said. “We will not be hiding our values or our commitment to serving our community in an equitable way and our students in an equitable way.”
“I don’t think that teaching about the history of racism in America is a toxic indoctrination. We’re a country that has been built upon the backs of slave labor and acknowledging that, and acknowledging the structural racism that comes after it, isn’t a toxic indoctrination. It’s a recognition of the reality of our history.”
Cabrillo College president matt Wetstein
He said that he and the county’s 10 superintendents will meet Monday to talk about the memo and their next steps.
UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason referred all questions about the memo to the UC Office of the President, the University of California system’s main headquarters and President Michael V. Drake’s office. The office of the president said no one was available for an interview and instead provided a statement.
The federal memo “provides guidance on the Department’s interpretation of existing anti-discrimination laws and does not name any specific institution. It indicates how [the Office for Civil Rights] intends to enforce these legal requirements. Given the UC’s compliance with Prop 209, we do not use race-based preferences in our practices.”
Proposition 209, which was passed by California voters in 1996, banned the use of racial preference by government agencies, such as affirmative action for admission to public universities.
Wetstein, who said Cabrillo College was also in compliance with Prop 209, said if the federal government did in the end freeze or cut funding that the college would appeal.
“We would make every effort to justify [the funding] through an appeal process,” he said. “That whatever they’re trying to withhold is designed to be for a program that has merit and meets the purposes of the submission that we put forward.”
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