Pennsylvania tells schools they don't need to make changes amid Trump's DEI funding threats

Maddie Hanna, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 9, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania officials on Wednesday complied with a directive from President Donald Trump’s administration to certify that its schools conform with antidiscrimination laws — but told districts they don’t need to change any diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

While the U.S. Department of Education instructed states that “certain DEI practices” violate federal law — and threatened to pull federal funding over racially discriminatory practices — “it did not identify those practices or define ‘illegal DEI,‘” Carrie Rowe, acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said in a letter to schools Wednesday.

Rowe said there were “no federal or state laws generally prohibiting efforts relating to diversity, equity, or inclusion,” and said that federal courts had rejected similar requests for compliance with “such nebulous concepts.”

Pennsylvania, like all of its school districts, “fully complies with Title VI” of the Civil Rights Act, and has already confirmed that through its acceptance of federal grant money, Rowe said.

Pennsylvania’s position on the federal funding threat — issued by the U.S. education department April 3 — is similar to that of some other Democrat-led states, which have opposed the Trump administration’s push to eliminate DEI initiatives.

But the state’s official response to the department was more muted than some other Democratic-led counterparts. New York, for instance, told federal officials that “we understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems ‘diversity, equity & inclusion’” and disputed the Trump administration’s reliance on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions — saying the case does “not have the totemic significance that you have assigned it,” according to the New York Times.

Massachusetts told the education department that it would “continue to promote diversity in our schools,” while Minnesota told the education department that it “does not have the authority to unilaterally overrule the will of Congress,” adding that “the current uncertainty and threats would penalize the most vulnerable children in Minnesota.”

Pennsylvania education officials, meanwhile, told the Trump administration Wednesday that the state “certifies that it has and will continue to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as required by law and by the various grant agreements and programs under which the department and its local education agencies (LEAs) receive federal funds.”

The department “affirms that all of Pennsylvania’s LEAs have previously certified, on multiple occasions, that they comply and will continue to comply with Title VI,” Pennsylvania’s acting deputy secretary of education, Angela Fitterer, said in the letter.

The department’s statement on behalf of school districts stood in contrast to states like New Hampshire, which has a Republican governor, and where the state education department launched a website tracking which districts have submitted certifications in compliance with the federal directive.

In a statement April 3, U.S. Department of Education officials said that “too many schools” had been “using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another.”

The department — which said in a letter to states that Title I funding for high-poverty schools was conditioned on compliance with antidiscrimination laws — said that state education agencies would have to certify their compliance to continue receiving federal funding, and were also responsible for “collecting certification responses from their local education agencies.”

Jeffrey Sultanik, a solicitor for numerous Philadelphia-area school districts, said Wednesday the Pennsylvania education department was not requiring further action from school districts.

“However, it is unclear at this time whether this letter will be sufficient to satisfy” the Trump administration’s directive, Sultanik said.