Overview:
The Department of Education terminated 10 contracts totaling $336 million with the Regional Educational Laboratories, which are intended to support applied research, development, and technical assistance activities.
Today, the U.S. Department of Education canceled over $350 million in contracts and grants to several Regional Educational Laboratories and Equity Assistance Centers, claiming the review of the contracts uncovered “wasteful and ideologically driven spending not in the interest of students and taxpayers.”
The Department of Education terminated 10 contracts totaling $336 million with the Regional Educational Laboratories, which are intended to support applied research, development, and technical assistance activities.
This comes after the Trump Presidency announced efforts to end DEI in January and with Elon Musk targeting $900 million in contracts from the Department of Education just this week.
This attack on “wokeness” by MAGA Republicans originates from President Donald Trump on the campaign trail, who fueled the narrative that white Americans were victims of racism and vowed to reverse what he called Joe Biden’s “woke takeover” of Washington during his second term in office.
Now that Republicans control the White House and both branches of Congress , the President has used his first three weeks in the office to fulfill his promise to crack down on any DEI efforts.
In the press release from the U.S. Department of Education , they used an example from the Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest, which the Department claims has been advising schools in Ohio to undertake “equity audits” and equity conversations. The Department plans to enter into new contracts that will satisfy the statutory requirements, improve student learning, and better serve school districts, State Departments of Education, and other education stakeholders.
The Department also terminated grants to four Equity Assistance Centers totaling $33 million, which supported divisive training in DEI, Critical Race Theory, and gender identity for state and local education agencies and school boards.
