State Superintendent Jill Underly said "Washington, D.C. should not dictate how schools educate their kids." Underly pictured with Madison La Follette High School Principal Mathew Thompson and Madison Public School District Superintendent Joe Gothard in the hallway at La Follette in September 2024. (Photo by Ruth Conniff/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction rejected the Trump administration’s request to certify compliance with a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion in K-12 public schools. 

State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement that Wisconsin schools are following the law. 

“We’ve put that into writing to the USDE,” Underly said. “We believe in local control in Wisconsin and trusting our local leaders – superintendents, principals, educators – who work together with parents and families every day to support students. They know their communities best. Washington, D.C. should not dictate how schools educate their kids.” 

The U.S. Department of Education sent a letter earlier this month to state agencies across the country requesting that agencies check with local school districts to ensure they don’t have diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. 

The federal administration is trying to apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision, which said race-based programs in higher education violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, to K-12 education. The administration said state agencies needed to ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Supreme Court decision. 

Wisconsin is one of several states, mostly led by Democrats, that have pushed back on the request. The Trump administration, which has been targeting diversity efforts in K-12 schools as well as in higher education and other sectors, has threatened that it could pull funding from states that don’t comply with the request.

Wisconsin schools receive $841.9 million from the federal government, making up about 8% of the total funding for schools across the state. Funding from the Department of Education makes up $568.2 million of that, and according to DPI, this is equivalent to 6,106 educator jobs. 

According to the letter, DPI provided the Department of Education with copies of previous certifications of compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

The agency said that its repeated requests for additional information about the new certification request went unanswered. In an April 9 letter, DPI asked for clarification on why the federal government was requesting another certification and asked the Department of Education to answer questions including whether the requested certification seeks to enforce any requirement beyond what is required by federal law and regulation and what legal authority the Education Department is using to make the request a condition of federal aid. 

“If the certified assurances are insufficient to meet the conditions of federal funding imposed by USDE, please articulate the basis in law for imposing these conditions, as well as an explanation as to why these assurances do not fulfill those requirements,” DPI General Counsel Benjamin Jones wrote to the Department of Education.

Underly said the new certification is a way for the federal government to “directly control the decisions in our schools by conditioning federal dollars. This is a serious concern – not just for the DPI, but for anyone who believes in lawful, transparent government.”

State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement about the response that Wisconsin schools need support, not threatened cuts to federal funding. Underly at a rally for 2025 Public Schools Week. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is resisting the Trump administration’s threat that it certify that local school districts put an end to diversity, equity and inclusion programs or lose federal funding.

State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement about the response that Wisconsin schools need support, not threatened cuts to federal funding.

“We cannot stand by while the current administration threatens our schools with unnecessary and potentially unlawful mandates based on political beliefs,” Underly said. “Our responsibility is to ensure Wisconsin students receive the best education possible, and that means allowing schools to make local decisions based on what is best for their kids and their communities.”

The federal directive comes as a part of the Trump administration’s crack-down on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the country and in K-12 as well as higher education. 

Wisconsin joins several states, most led by Democrats, that are rejecting the demands from the federal government. 

In the letter sent to state agencies last week, the Department of Education told state education departments that they needed to certify their compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard — the landmark Supreme Court decision that found consideration of race in higher education admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement that the request includes ensuring that schools aren’t “using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI.” Trainor said the government has seen “too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations.” The federal agency gave state agencies 10 days to respond and warned that federal funding could be at risk if there was continued use of “illegal DEI.” 

In a response letter to the U.S. Department of Education, DPI said it has already provided the federal agency with compliance assurances required by federal law, including those related to nondiscrimination. It said that it was unclear why the federal agency is requesting another certification and noted that the agency itself had said that recent guidance “does not have the force and effect of law and does not bind the public or create new legal standards.” 

“At best, the [directive] appears to be redundant. At worst, the [directive] appears to be unauthorized, unlawful and unconstitutionally vague,” Wisconsin DPI General Counsel Benjamin Jones wrote in the letter. “We are deeply concerned that the [request] allows the federal bureaucracy to threaten the loss of crucial education funding in order to dictate local education agency policies and decisions on what is best for kids.” 

The state agency asked the federal agency to answer a series of questions before it complies with the request, including the specific purpose of the certification, whether the requested certification seeks to enforce any requirement beyond what is required by federal law and regulation and what legal authority the Education Department is using to make the request a condition of federal aid.

DPI said that while it waits for a response, it will not collect certifications from local education agencies and will not send the requested certification to the U.S. Department of Education.