The Trump administration Thursday threatened to withhold federal Title I funding from public schools nationwide unless state education officials prove that programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion have been eliminated.
The Department of Education sent out a memo to top public education officials to threaten the removal of the funding, which goes to districts with high percentages of students from low-income families, reports The New York Times.
The memo was sent out with a certification letter that state and local officials are required to sign and return within 10 days.
"Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right," Craig Trainor, the acting assistant education secretary for civil rights, said in a statement Thursday. "When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal anti-discrimination requirements."
The administration, however, has not defined which programs violate how it interprets civil rights laws.
In her confirmation hearing in February, Education Secretary Linda McMahon agreed that schools should be allowed to celebrate the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr., but said she was "not quite certain" about whether classes focusing on Black history were acceptable as part of President Donald Trump's agenda.
The Education Department more recently, though, said an assessment of school policies depends on "the facts and circumstances of each case" and that programs that recognize historical events and contributions would not be in violation if they "do not engage in racial exclusion or discrimination."
Schools, however, must consider if their program discourages members of all races from participating or creates hostile environments.
According to the Pew Research Foundation, the federal government is responsible for about 8% of local school funding, but the amounts districts get depend on income levels. Mississippi gets about 23% of school funding from the U.S. government, but in New York, 7% comes from Washington.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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