Department of Education Cuts Over $600 Million in Grants for ‘Divisive’ Ideologies
The Department of Education announced Monday that it has cut more than $600 million in grants previously awarded to groups that train educators in “divisive ideologies.” The grants had funded programs such as workshops on critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training.
The move follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump directing the removal of “anti-American ideologies” from public schools and eliminating federal funding for grants that promote radical left-wing ideology. According to the Department of Education, the cut grants funded CRT, DEI, “anti-racism” training, and other initiatives. Several of the programs focused on teacher recruitment efforts that were “implicitly and explicitly based on race.”
Some trainings required teachers to take responsibility for “systemic racism” and instructed them on responding to issues such as racism, “gender-based discrimination,” and homophobia. One grant application centered on providing “targeted practices in culturally relevant and responsive teaching abolitionist pedagogies and issues of diversity in classroom management.”
Erika Sanzi, director of outreach for the conservative group Parents Defending Education, told The Daily Wire that the programs went far beyond traditional teacher training.
“It’s hard to overstate how radical these teacher trainings are—we are talking about forcing teachers to talk about their race at work, asking educators to ‘take personal and institutional responsibility for systemic inequities,’ promoting abolitionist teaching practices and defining equity as equal outcomes,” Sanzi explained. “And not for nothing but all we see are declining outcomes for the students that these trainings purport to help most.”
Trump has made overhauling the Department of Education a priority, vowing to eliminate left-wing ideology from schools and threatening to cut federal funding for non-compliant institutions.
“Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination,” the president said in an executive order last month. “In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics. In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed.”
