PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Education Law Center-PA sent a letter of guidance to Pennsylvania school districts and charter schools in response to a U.S. Department of Education threat to cut federal funding to schools that implement policies that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The letter makes clear that most programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools not only remain lawful, but that the elimination of these programs could be a violation of existing state and federal law and the First Amendment.
The letter also notes that school curriculum is a matter of state and local, not federal, law. As a result, the threats from the Department of Education are mostly unenforceable.
“If Pennsylvania school administrators were to cave to the Department of Education’s vague demand to end any programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, the chances of such a move ending in a costly nondiscrimination lawsuit are high,” said Stephen Loney, senior supervising attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The Department of Education’s threats are rooted in either the willful misinterpretation or a laughably incompetent reading of existing law. If the federal government tries to follow through on these threats, ACLU-PA will be there to defend any school’s rights to continue implementing policies that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
“The administration is using false arguments and faulty logic to try to make a bogeyman of the term DEI, but that does not reflect what the vast majority of Americans actually think and feel about diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Education Law Center-PA senior attorney Kristina Moon. “Most parents think it’s important to make sure our schools include all our students with equitable opportunities to grow and succeed. Parents value learning environments that support students, where teachers provide our kids opportunities to interact and learn from people that have experiences different from theirs. We need a return to protecting civil rights and defending Black and Brown students, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and multilingual learners against discrimination.”
School administrators are encouraged to reach out to the ACLU of Pennsylvania if they need additional guidance or a legal consultation in response to the Department of Education’s letter.
You can read the full letter of guidance here.
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