this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025

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391

New York Warns Trump It Will Not Comply With Public School D.E.I. Order (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 21 hours ago by Stamau123@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The New York State Education Department on Friday issued a defiant response to the Trump administration’s threats to pull federal funding from public schools over certain diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a remarkable departure from the conciliatory approach of other institutions in recent weeks.

Daniel Morton-Bentley, the deputy commissioner for legal affairs at the state education agency in New York, wrote in a letter to federal education officials that “we understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems ‘diversity, equity & inclusion.’”

“But there are no federal or state laws prohibiting the principles of D.E.I.,” Mr. Morton-Bentley wrote, adding that the federal government has not defined what practices it believes violate civil rights protections.

The stern letter was sent one day after the federal government issued a memo to education officials across the nation, asking them to confirm the elimination of all programs it argues unfairly promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Title I funding for schools with high percentages of low-income students was at risk pending compliance, federal officials said.

New York’s stance differed from the muted and often deferential responses across academia and other major institutions to the Trump administration’s threats. Some universities have quietly scrubbed diversity websites and canceled events to comply with executive orders — and to avoid the ire of the White House.

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[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 28 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Finally, an entity with balls. Columbia capitulating was such a blow. Not sure if Harvard has made a decision yet. These intuitions are supposed to stand for progress and education.

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 8 points 15 hours ago

While I agree with the sentiment, you’re comparing the New York State Education system with two private for-profit Ivy League colleges. Every for profit Ivy League college will capitulate. The bigger question is if other State Education departments turn down federal funding in the interest of better serving the public

[–] PortoPeople@lemm.ee 85 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Good. All blue states and people who believe in democracy need to tell this government to fuck off at every opportunity.

[–] TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 16 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

My hope is we (NY) withhold what we would get in school funding from our federal taxes, or maybe we just stop paying them. Get all the Blue states to stop paying for the Red ones and maybe we can stop letting this asshole use economic threats to get States to submit to his bullshit.

Edit - Also what about all that "States Rights" bullshit these mouth breathes were spewing when they were banning books and bullying trans kids?

[–] PortoPeople@lemm.ee 1 points 3 hours ago

maybe we just stop paying them.

Yes.

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

States don't pay federal taxes. Residents of the state pay federal taxes.

So it would have to be you underpaying the IRS and taking the legal and financial risk.

[+] dryfter@lemm.ee -26 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

I’m torn on this because I love that blue states are standing up for DEI. But, like, kids are already suffering enough especially in Rochester which already is ranked one of the worst school districts in the country based on test scores and graduation rates. The teens are already out of control on crime sprees ands joy rides (some young as 11 and 12)here thanks to these kids having nothing better to do than get into gangs due to peer pressure.

If NY state has a backup plan to at least maintain funding levels for schools once federal funding gets cut I’d feel better about this. Spoiler alert: they don’t. They’re also forcing all school districts in the state to switch to electric buses amidst all this new crap going on.

The only people who will suffer from this decision are the students and the communities that will have to put up with even more crime sprees and joy rides. But I guess in war, causalities will happen whether we like it or not.

[–] FinnFooted@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I get your concern in a sense because kids in Rochester do have it pretty rough. While crime stats in the us and NY are down, violent crime Rochester specifically has stayed pretty steady since the 90s and is higher than national and NY crime levels.

But I don't think this will be the thing that impacts these kids and school districts the most. The issues Rochester face come from poor incentive management for schools, high teacher burnout and poor employee retention, large classroom sizes, issues with corruption within specific school systems, and concentrations of low socioeconomic people.

I need to admit I left the public education world in NY a while ago. But it used to be that the worse a school performed the less money it got. Because schools only get a small percentage of funding from the federal government that gets pulled from them when they underperform (I very quickly looked at the numbers and it appears Rochester gets less than the national % average in federal funding, about 10% compared to the national 13% depending on what year you're looking at). So schools with students who needed the most help either lost money or just tried to cover up student issues to hide them instead of address them. As long as this and property tax funding is the model and admin dictates their own salaries, schools aren't going to improve.

IMO, it's even specifically DEI policies that briefly helped some schools excel in the us during school bussing. Bussing students forced integration of students from all different backgrounds and socioeconomic groups. Rich and attentive parents with more bandwidth made sure whatever school their kid was at was well funded and well run. Kids from different backgrounds became friends and humanized each other. Kids from poor backgrounds were offered support systems outside of gangs and violence. And these poor kids didn't poison the well and bring crime to their new schools. Kids are kids. If you offer them opportunities, they don't choose gangs and violence.

What will really fix schools and improve things for kids

small class sizes (15 kids MAX)
force integration
better support for teachers
free school lunches
statewide tax funding instead of property tax

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 26 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

How old are you, 95?
This is the dumbest "the youth are bad!" scaremongering I've ever seen.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 8 points 18 hours ago

Since New York is a net giver than receiver of federal money they probably have the money to keep schools running. Urban blue states are filthy rich so it's a matter of political will more than anything. Also New York City is one of the cities with the least crime in America, so while the media likes to play up crime for views it's not really a thing.

[–] SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 26 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

No need to warn him, just don't do it. He'll never know.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 6 points 12 hours ago

Even better: say “ok sure”, do nothing, and then gaslight them about it.

[–] Stamau123@lemmy.world 19 points 20 hours ago

Not like there will be a department of education to control them anyhow

[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 11 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

If that doesn't work then you can use their playbook, saying that you're complying but you're doing absolutely nothing of the sort, like the deportation court orders they willfully ignore yet say they're complying.