North Carolina moves to eliminate DEI in public schools with Senate bill 

The North Carolina Senate Tuesday passed a bill to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in public education. 

“Our schools should not be in the business of teaching inaccurate history or creating a learning environment that doesn’t allow for free thought or expression,” Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham County, told the local ABC affiliate. 

“So-called DEI initiatives were pitched as a tool to help our children better understand our history, when in reality they’re merely a facade used by Democrats to alter curriculum to fit their agenda.” 

SB 227, which now moves to the House of Representatives, comes after President Donald Trump’s DEI executive order demanding an end to race- and gender-based policies across social institutions. 

The Tar Heel state currently receives more than $3 billion in federal funding, according to the ABC news outlet. 

‘Put those funds toward student needs’ 

“The bill is not a ban on teaching history or discussing past injustices,” said Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, one of the legislation’s sponsors. 

“Our children are the ones disadvantaged when DEI policies take precedent over academic excellence. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on unnecessary DEI trainings, school districts should put those funds toward student needs.” 

Sen. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, also sponsored SB 227.  

“As a parent, I want all children to get the fair and equal treatment they deserve when it comes time for their education,” he said. “No one should be overlooked or denied simply because of characteristics outside of their control. This bill will help schools get back to the basics and support all of our students.” 

One of the bill’s critics, Christina Spears, urged lawmakers to focus on other legislative issues instead of targeting DEI initiatives. 

“We do see an achievement gap between black and brown boys,” said the president of the Wake County Chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators. She formerly worked as a special education teacher in Equity Affairs in the Wake County Public School System. 

Thousands of schools nationwide have embraced DEI policies in their official documents and websites, according to a recent report by the Parents Defending Education group. But since Trump’s executive order, a number of educational institutions have taken steps to distance themselves from DEI. 

In a recent example, Stanford University updated its “About” web page to remove references to its “deep respect for diversity in all its forms,” among other changes. 

However, other school districts have demonstrated a reluctance to publicly denounce DEI initiatives.  

As previously reported by The Lion, a Kansas school board rejected one board member’s resolution to ensure compliance with a DEI ban in schools after a lawyer called it “probably unnecessary.” 

“It should be very rare that an executive order would directly order a school district to do something,” a lawyer for the Kansas Association of School Boards wrote in an email shared with The Lion, “and, if it did, it would likely be swiftly challenged in the court system for being overreaching.” 

Yet, a Feb. 14 letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) seems to suggest otherwise. 

“Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices,” the letter argues. 

“Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them – particularly during the last four years – under the banner of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (“DEI”), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline. 

“But under any banner, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.”