From ultimatums to scrapping diversity initiatives to pledges to eliminate the Education Department altogether, the Trump administration has put educators across the Northeast on edge. With federal funding on the line, leaders in Massachusetts say they're working closely with the state attorney general and remaining vigilant.
Almost two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Education issued what some are now calling the "Dear Colleague letter” - a four-page memo from Acting Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights Craig Trainor.
In it is an ultimatum - educational institutions and state agencies across the country, including pre-K to higher ed, had 14 days to scrub diversity and inclusionary initiatives across the board.
According to Trainor, the DoE will “no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions.”
That means ditching DEI programming – initiatives the department claims "frequently preference certain racial groups," which amounts to racial discrimination in its eyes
It’s a move that could have implications for everything from curricula to hiring practices to scholarships.
With an apparent threat of losing federal funding over non-compliance, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler says it's the latest in a series of moves that don't have the force of the law behind them.
“A lot of the messages, the signals, some of the executive orders, the most recent “Dear Colleague” letter, are not backed by the force of law, and so, in many ways, it's inviting school districts, universities to abandon things that they care about when there's no real reason or penalty for not doing so,” he said.
Speaking with WAMC while in Springfield Monday, he said his office has been working closely with Attorney General Andrea Campbell to provide guidance to institutions across the state as the Trump administration rolls out new edicts and policies.
He says with the letter's deadline approaching, his offices will be releasing guidance in partnership with Campbell's office. He also calls the DoE letter was "an overreach."
"The federal government does not have the wherewithal, the right to make districts do the things that it's asking, that were asked of them in that letter - it's not backed by law,” he said. “And I also want to say that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, strategies, programs in Massachusetts remain tied to our core values and legal.”
The education secretary adds the threat of pulling federal education funding from Massachusetts is not something to be taken lightly.
Adding that there aren’t enough reserves to easily make up for the federal funds if they were totally lost, Tutwiler also says his team continues to watch and prepare for whatever might be coming next - especially as talk of dismantling the Department of Education continues.
“Right now, we're in a preparation orientation - some of the things that have been signaled are things that we’re just going to have to wait and see, but I do think it's important to point out that, each year, Massachusetts receives about $2 billion for education purposes, and there's no reserve to make up for that,” he explained. “If those dollars were removed, it would cripple the education sector in Massachusetts. I will say definitively that dismantling the Department of Education will take an act of Congress - we'll wait and see if that happens, but we remain vigilant and in a learning orientation at present.”
Also keeping close tabs on what happens in Washington is the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Its president, Max Page, tells WAMC he endorses Campbell's actions as the AG takes part in a host of legal challenges against the Trump administration.
He says whether it's the threat of funding cuts, students fearing ICE raids or apparent intervention in school curricula, the acts amount to a "tsunami of attacks on public education."
Page also wants more elected officials to speak out.
“We need every elected leader to be out in force, saying how terrible these changes would be - these attacks, they're not just changes, they're truly attacks on public education,” he said Monday. “We also need all of our school superintendents and school committees and leaders of our higher education institutions. Sometimes, I hear people say, ‘Well, we don't want a target on our back.’ Well, I'm afraid that there is a target, and they are shooting the arrows already. They are trying to attack one of the greatest inventions –invented in Massachusetts - the idea of universal public education.”
