Showdown Looms Over Trump’s DEI Ban in Public Schools

Low-income rural districts that publish DEI statements required by state law but don’t necessarily engage in the practices are caught in the crossfire.

People walk past Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in Princeton, N.J., on Nov. 20, 2015. Dominick Reuter/Reuters

Several blue states have joined New York in resisting federal efforts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in public schools.

Leaders in California, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Washington said they wouldn’t provide a signed statement to the federal government by an April 24 deadline to certify compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting practices such as diversity training, affinity groups by race and gender, preferential hiring practices by race, and classroom curricula that include progressive ideologies such as critical race theory.