Ruling limits Trump administration’s attempted crackdown on diversity programs in schools

FILE Students work in a classroom at St HOPE s General School Elementary in Sacramento on May Miguel Gutierrez Jr CalMatters California K- schools got a reprieve last week when a judge blocked the Trump administration s order to eliminate diversity programs or hazard losing federal funding New Hampshire Judge Landya McCafferty explained Trump s order didn t sufficiently define diversity equity and inclusion or DEI limited free speech and went beyond his authority The Trump administration is likely to appeal the ruling but for now it means that the federal executive must continue to fund special mentoring after-school programs services for low-income students and other federal programs The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Teaching Association the country s largest teachers union They alleged that Trump s DEI order was overly vague and would cause undue harm to students California had responded to the order by saying its schools were already in compliance with civil rights laws We are grateful for in contemporary times s ruling which protects California students and educators continuous access to the educational materials that have been allocated to them by Congress mentioned Elizabeth Sanders spokeswoman for the California Department of Training In California we will continue to focus on providing opportunities for our students not taking support from them California joined about a dozen states in pushing back against the order Separately the Trump administration explained it would withhold federal K- money to Maine over its protections for transgender students and is scrutinizing California over the same issue McCafferty s ruling only applied to schools that have at least one staff person who belongs to the National Coaching Association which is nearly all schools in California Politics and Title I California receives billion in federal Title I money for low-income schools about billion for special guidance million for after-school programs and millions more in grants for career mentoring school meals and other programs The Trump administration reported they didn t intend to cut special tuition funding but Title I and other programs were potentially at liability In the current wobbly economic situation it s doubtful that the state would be able to backfill the lost revenue and those programs would almost certainly face steep cuts if not total elimination Trump is not the first president to threaten to withhold Title I funds the largest piece of federal K- money Not long after Congress created Title I in President Lyndon Johnson threatened to withhold it from schools in the South that refused to desegregate Other presidents have occasionally threatened to withhold federal funds to schools although none have literally done it disclosed Sarah Reber a senior fellow in economics guidelines at the Brookings Institution It s not uncommon to have Title I get caught up in controversies but it s never over the value of Title I itself Reber commented It s usually over a broader political issue Nearly every district in California gets particular Title I funding which schools use to hire tutors and aides reduce class sizes and purchase books and other materials The establishment requires that schools use the money to help low-income students who typically don t perform as well academically as their peers The money goes from the federal cabinet to the state to school districts which distribute it to schools that have a certain percentage of low-income students The amount of money has mostly been stable year to year although during the pandemic the regime gave schools billions more money in COVID relief grants based on the Title I formula Losing Title I money now would be especially challenging for schools as their urgency pandemic grants are expiring and states are experiencing budget uncertainties Reber revealed After-school and summer programs Another essential portion of federal K- funding is the st Century Population Learning Centers which funds after-school and summer programs In California the money supplements the state s contributions to those programs and is the only source of funding for high school after-school programs such as pupil authorities or homework help Without st Century grants those programs would be wiped out declared Heather Williams director of program and outreach for the California AfterSchool Arrangement Until federal funding was the primary source of promotion for after-school programs and offerings were scant But Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gov Gavin Newsom both championed the prospective for after-school services as a safe place where children could get healthy snacks tutoring and a gamut of enrichment pursuits During the pandemic California created the Expanded Learning Opportunities Services which last year distributed billion to elementary schools Although after-school programs have garnered bipartisan encouragement Williams is wary of the current administration During Trump s first term he tried to cut st Century grants all four years but was thwarted by Congress We ve known for a long time that after school programs are critical Williams disclosed But right now it seems people are caught up in a broader political argument that overlooks the value of actual programs CalMatters is a residents interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California s state Capitol works and why it matters