Federal judges block Trump’s ability to withhold federal funding over DEIA
The separate rulings block President Donald Trump's efforts to freeze funding for teachers, counselors and academic programs at public schools serving low-income students. Young-Bin Lee | Daily Orange File Photo
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Three federal judges issued separate rulings on Thursday to limit the Trump administration’s ability to withhold federal funding from public schools that have implemented certain diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives.
The rulings block the administration’s efforts to freeze funding for teachers, counselors and academic programs at schools that serve low-income students, the New York Times reported. Multiple teachers’ unions and the NAACP, among other organizations, first brought the cases against the administration.
In one case, Landya McCafferty, a federal district court judge in New Hampshire, ruled the administration failed to provide a sufficiently clear definition of what DEIA entails. She said the vague definition threatens free speech in classrooms and oversteps the executive branch’s legal authority over public education, the Times reported.
“Ours is a nation deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned,” McCafferty wrote in the case. “(The) right to speak freely and promote diversity of ideas and programs is…one of chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes.”
McCafferty’s decision came after an April 3 demand by the Trump administration that all United States education agencies attest their schools do not violate Trump’s interpretation of civil rights law when implementing DEIA practices.
Schools that fail to comply risk losing billions of dollars in Title 1 funding, which supports public schools with high populations of students from low-income backgrounds.
McCafferty declined to block the policy nationwide. Her ruling only applies to schools that employ or contract with either the National Education Association or the Center for Black Educator Development, both plaintiffs in the case.
Stephanie Gallagher, a federal district court judge in Maryland, and Dabney Fredrich, a federal district court judge from D.C., also ruled against the implementation of Trump’s federal funding freeze. Both claimed the administration had not provided a clear definition of DEIA or followed proper procedure in enforcing new legislation.
The Trump administration has not provided an official definition of what it considers “illegal DEIA practices,” but has suggested that efforts to provide targeted academic support or counseling to specific groups of students constitutes illegal segregation.
Administration officials also argued classroom discussions of concepts like white privilege or structural racism are discriminatory toward white students.
In a hearing last week, McCafferty noted the administration’s plans to ban lessons that could cause white students to feel “shame,” including Jim Crow Laws and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
As Trump continues to dismantle DEIA initiatives, his administration’s education agenda may reach the Supreme Court, according to the Times.
