TEMPE, AZ — A Valley school district is at risk of losing federal funding, according to the state superintendent. This stems from the conversation on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.
The Trump administration is working to eliminate DEI policies in education and across the board. Now State Superintendent Tom Horne says the Kyrene School District could lose $1.5 million in federal funding because of DEI policy. Horne made the announcement Friday.
“The federal government has specifically said they expect people to sign a statement, in order to continue using funding, that they don't use DEI,” Horne said.
Horne says this comes after Kyrene’s Governing Board adopted a staff social-emotional wellness policy that contains DEI language, but the school district says that is only a proposal.
“No policy is adopted yet. If that policy were to be adopted, it would have to be done at a public meeting at a later date,” Kevin Walsh, Kyrene Board President, said.
The DEI language is at the heart of the conversation.
The State Department of Education says it received a letter from the federal government outlining expectations for eliminating DEI policies in educational institutions.
Horne says districts were notified by the grants management system that they need to sign a form by April 24, committing to eliminating DEI to keep receiving federal funding.
This is a stance Horne says he supports.
“DEI, by nature, does not deal with individuals. They stereotype people, and then they look for equal results by stereotype. And that's very contrary to the idea of individual merit,” Horne said. “It's completely contrary to the philosophy that I think this country was built on. And I pledge to fight it, and the federal government is fighting it.”
Kyrene leaders say the announcement came as a surprise.
“Mr. Horne hasn't contacted this district. He's not reached out to us formally or informally about this at all,” Walsh said.
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The Kyrene superintendent released a statement in response, citing something called the “Kyrene Promise” to families. It pledges to provide welcoming and inclusive learning environments.
“All Kyrene policies, including policies around inclusion and social-emotional wellness, are in compliance with state and federal law, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” Laura Toenjes, Kyrene Superintendent, said in the statement.
Walsh says he fully supports Toenjes' statement and Kyrene’s policies.
“If there's concerns out there in the national dialog about diversity, equity, inclusion or critical race theory, I invite folks to look at our actual policy and see what we're doing here in this district in Kyrene,” Walsh said.
Some parents who spoke to ABC15 say they’re concerned about any potential loss of funding.
“Losing funding for it, I feel like it’s sad,” Sherry Alquino said.
Some say they support diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I think that it should be part of their education. I think that it's important in how they learn because it's how the world is,” Katherine Vigness said.
ABC15 will continue to follow this story through the April 24 deadline.
