The teachers union American Federation of Teachers and the American Sociological Association filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education over its policy that withholds federal funds from schools with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
The lawsuit implores the judge to assert the policy is unconstitutional and prohibit its enforcement.
Discussing a letter sent by the Education Department warning of potential funding losses, the lawsuit says the message suggests that “a wide variety of core instruction, activities, and programs that schools, from pre-kindergarten through post-graduate education, use to teach and support their students now constitute illegal discrimination.”
The February 14 letter explained that in “recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families. These institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia.”
“But under any banner, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal,” the letter declared.
According to the teachers union, should the letter’s contents be implemented, it would have “devastating impacts” on schools. “First, it would undermine schools as a training ground for informed, prepared citizens by denying students opportunities to hone critical thinking skills and expand their world views by confronting new or opposing viewpoints,” the filing says. “And second, it would hamper efforts to further equal access to education, and the promise of opportunity, that have been a central tenet of the United States since our founding.”
A January executive order asserts that taxpayer dollars should not fund curricula that portray the United States as fundamentally racist or push controversial gender theories onto children. The order, called “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” eliminates funding or “support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”
