Taxpayers heavily subsidized the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda in schools and nonprofits under the Biden administration’s Department of Education. Last week, the Supreme Court cleared one hurdle for the Trump administration to dismantle the department through staffing cuts. 

Watchdog groups and the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency recently brought many of the department’s DEI-related grants to the public’s attention, including almost $20 million in grants for an advocacy group with “equity” in its name, $14 million to a teacher certification organization’s diversity project, and numerous other multimillion-dollar grants to university DEI-related projects.

“I didn’t go in looking for DEI grants, but when I began researching grants, it was so evident that DEI was the focus for the department,” Robert Stilson, senior research analyst at the Capital Research Center, told The Daily Signal. “DEI is the most harmful in the education system. The federal government should have nothing to do with promoting a radical agenda with taxpayer dollars.”

Parents Defending Education found more than $1 billion in department spending on DEI-related initiatives.

“The Department of Education, especially under the Biden administration, was advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in universities and K-12 using grant funding—and funnelling dollars into allies’ pockets—rather than improving reading and writing, to focus on a DEI ideology,” Rhyen Staley, a researcher for Parents Defending Education, told The Daily Signal. 

One example is a $3.9 million grant to the School District of Philadelphia spanning January 2023 to December 2027 for a program called “Relationship First,” which is a “restorative” system to create a “more positive and equitable school climate.” 

The grant is said to help “students whose personal and/or family circumstances have been negatively impacted by marginalization, structural racism, and/or economic inequity,” according to the grant description. 

The school district has been a good steward of the federal funding, school district spokeswoman Christina Clark told The Daily Signal. 

“Recent actions coming out of Washington, including significant cuts to and dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, are understandably raising concern about impacts on the educational landscape across the country, including the School District of Philadelphia,” Clark said. 

“While the district navigates the evolving issues, our commitment to teaching every student will not waiver, and the district’s mission is to work with urgency to provide every student—no matter their race, ethnicity, immigration status, national origin, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, familial status,........

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