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Feb. 17, 2025Washington |  By: Shauneen Miranda - Missouri Independent

U.S. Education Department threatens yanking funds for schools that use race in decisions

u.s. capitol building

By Shauneen Miranda - Missouri Independent

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education is threatening to rescind federal funds for schools that use race-conscious practices in admissions, programming, training, hiring, scholarships and other aspects of student life, according to a Dear Colleague letter sent to schools.

The Friday move — likely to draw legal challenges — came as President Donald Trump and his administration have already taken significant strides to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the federal government.

The letter offers a sweeping interpretation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023, which struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

Though the ruling “addressed admissions decisions, the Supreme Court’s holding applies more broadly,” wrote Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

Trainor said that “federal law thus prohibits covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

Institutions have until Feb. 28 to comply or else they face the “potential loss of federal funding.”

Trainor also clarified that enforcement will extend to “all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance.”

He noted that “additional legal guidance will follow in due course.”

Criticism of letter

Wil Del Pilar, senior vice president at the nonprofit policy and advocacy group EdTrust, told States Newsroom that the administration is “ruling by fear.”

“They’re ruling by overinterpretation, and they’re ruling by essentially creating this mass chaos and confusion that leads to overcompliance in policies that — to be truthful — if they were so effective, we’d see greater equity and outcomes, and we simply don’t see that,” said Del Pilar, who previously served as deputy secretary of postsecondary and higher education for the state of Pennsylvania.

That creation of “confusion” has “been the point, I think, of a lot of the actions of this administration since Day One in terms of issuing executive actions that are clearly beyond the scope of what they legally have power to do or even within the boundaries of the Constitution of the United States,” he said.

In terms of legal challenges that could arise, Del Pilar said, “We’re going to have to wait and see which institutions of education have the resources and, I think, the courage to stand up against this administration and take them to court to see if they can have an injunction put in place.

“I do think that the chilling effect will happen regardless — I think that institutions will be in compliance until a decision is made, and then how do you reverse course? So, if you complied and you’ve ended things, how do you go back to put them in place if you ended them? I don’t think we’ll see that.”

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat representing Washington state, lambasted the letter, saying “this threat to rip away the federal funding our public K-12 schools and colleges receive flies in the face of the law,” per a Saturday statement.

“I hope no parent, student, or teacher is intimidated by these threats — this former preschool teacher certainly is not,” she said, adding that “rather than trying to make college more affordable or helping to improve our kids’ outcomes, Trump is letting far-right extremists inject politics into the classroom at every turn.”