In February, the federal government isssued a “Dear Colleague” letter declaring that any schools caught with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies would be punished. A federal judge has declared that schools need not follow that order. Kalyn Belsha at Chalkbeat reports.
Schools do not have to abide by or certify compliance with the Trump administration’s contested interpretation of civil rights law laid out in February, after a federal judge overturned the policy and related guidance on Thursday.
In an opinion that applies to schools nationwide, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher wrote that the Trump administration had failed to follow the proper administrative procedures to make such a sweeping change, and that both a Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter issued by the Education Department and a related certification requirement were unlawful.
Multiple lawsuits against the rules already had resulted in a patchwork of injunctions. However, Gallagher’s decision will likely bring some relief to many school leaders and state education officials who had worried they would lose federal funding if they did not certify compliance with the Trump administration’s interpretation of federal anti-discrimination laws — and that complying could mean dropping commonly used diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
“The government did not merely remind educators that discrimination is illegal: it initiated a sea change in how the Department of Education regulates educational practices and classroom conduct, causing millions of educators to reasonably fear that their lawful, and even beneficial, speech might cause them or their schools to be punished,” Gallagher wrote.
The Feb. 14 guidance and certification requirement had been put on hold as three separate lawsuits worked their way through the courts. That included the case brought by the American Federation of Teachers and others that led to the Thursday ruling, as well as lawsuits from a coalition of state attorneys general and the Legal Defense Fund on behalf of the NAACP.