The future of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Kansas schools and the potential loss of federal funding from those institutions refusing to comply will be the focus of a webinar on Wednesday, February 26th at 4:00 p.m. It is sponsored by the Kansas School Board Resource Center, which, like The Sentinel, is a subsidiary of Kansas Policy Institute. The Kriegshauser Ney Law Group will lead the discussion.
The DEI webinar is free of charge and registration is available at KSBRC.org.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued a dear colleague letter on February 14th advising all educational institutions receiving federal funding that they risk losing that funding if they continue to practice racial discrimination the Department finds inherent in DEI initiatives. The Department intends to begin assessing compliance with the directive February 28th.
From the letter:
The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions. The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.
All students are entitled to a school environment free from discrimination. The Department is committed to ensuring those principles are a reality.
The Kansas State Department of Education will not issue guidance, according to a KSDE spokesperson in a recent State Affairs report. KSDE is leaving decision-making on the handling of DEI content in the hands of local officials.
Federal funding accounted for about 12% of public school funding in Kansas last year.
David Hicks – The Sentinel
David Hicks grew up in southern Missouri and graduated from Mizzou with a degree in political science. He has worked as a congressional staffer, broadcaster, government bureaucrat, columnist, campaign worker, and small business owner. He and his wife live in Bonner Springs.
