Quick Take:
In a mounting confrontation over educational policy, California officials are moving to shield local school districts from Trump administration efforts to dismantle diversity programs, as billions in federal funding hangs in balance.
California officials will respond on behalf of all school districts in the state to the Trump administration’s demands that schools prove they have eliminated diversity programs or risk losing federal funding, Santa Cruz County educators said.
The demand, issued last Thursday in a U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights memo, initially gave states 10 days to certify that their schools had eliminated all diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Federal officials extended the deadline to 24 days on Monday.
In a letter to local school superintendents, David Schapira, California’s Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, said the state education department would handle the response to the Trump administration’s demand.
“We will share a copy of our response with you for your information once we have submitted it,” he wrote.
“As we review the requested certification, we want to assure you that the [state] and the local educational agencies (LEAs) in our state that receive federal funds regularly provide assurances that programs and services are and will be in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” he wrote, adding that local districts have submitted those records for this current academic year already.
His letter doesn’t ask districts to take any action, such as submitting their own certification or reviewing their programs for noncompliance. The Trump administration sent a similar memo to schools in February demanding educational institutions eliminate DEI efforts or risk losing federal funding. At the time, local educators said they had no plans to change any of their initiatives or programs promoting equity, saying they were all in compliance with the law.
Santa Cruz County Office of Education spokesperson Nick Ibarra reiterated this week that local schools “continue to be fully compliant with all applicable state and federal law.”
County Office of Education officials say that about 12% of K-12 public schools budgets in Santa Cruz County come from the federal dollars. For the current academic school year, local schools received about $92 million from the U.S. Department of Education.
New York’s education department last Friday refused to provide any certification, challenging the federal government’s authority to make such demands.