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.

"We remain confident Wisconsin schools and the DPI are in full compliance with the law," DPI Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement. Underly at a rally in February. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is reviewing a request by the Trump administration that state education agencies ensure they aren’t using diversity, equity and inclusion programs — or risk losing federal funding. 

According to WisPolitics, state Superintendent Jill Underly said the agency is looking at the U.S. Department of Education’s “justification and authority to request sign off from Wisconsin schools on the federal agency’s political beliefs.” 

“Now more than ever, Wisconsin’s students, educators and schools need support – not threats of federal funding cuts that are vital to their success,” Underly said in a statement. “As we stated in February, we remain confident Wisconsin schools and the DPI are in full compliance with the law and remain committed to providing the best education possible for our students.”

In a letter, the Department of Education said that state agencies need to certify their compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the responsibilities outlined in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard — the landmark Supreme Court decision that said race-based programs in higher education violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and effectively ended consideration of race in admissions programs. 

“Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement. “When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements. Unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI.” 

The request comes as a part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing attack on DEI efforts across the country.

State agencies were given 10 days to collect certification from local education agencies and respond, according to the release. 

Underly, who was reelected to a second term this week, also urged state lawmakers Wednesday to invest in Wisconsin’s public schools amid the threat of funding cuts by the federal government.

“An unprecedented number of our school districts have been forced to turn to referenda, asking their communities to raise property taxes just to compensate for the state’s underfunding. On top of that, the Trump administration’s reckless cuts threaten the critical federal funding that Wisconsin schools depend on,” Underly said at a public hearing held by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee in Kaukana. Underly was not invited for an agency briefing before the committee, so she traveled to deliver her message at the public hearing.

Her requests for state investment include increasing the state’s special education reimbursement for schools, funding universal free school meals and investing in mental health supports for students.

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington, D.C., pictured on Nov. 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

This story was updated at 6:44 p.m. EDT.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education demanded in a letter to state education leaders on Thursday that they certify all K-12 schools in their states are complying with an earlier Dear Colleague letter banning diversity, equity and inclusion practices if they want to keep receiving federal financial assistance.

The department’s sweeping order gives K-12 state education agencies 10 days to collect the certifications of compliance from local school governing bodies, and then sign them and return them to the federal department.

The new demand stems from a February letter threatening to rescind federal funds for schools that use DEI, or race-conscious practices, in admissions, programming, training, hiring, scholarships and other aspects of student life.

Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said “federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” in a statement Thursday.

“When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements,” Trainor said. He added that “unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics in clear violation of Title VI.”

He did not cite examples in the statement.

Trainor said the department “is taking an important step toward ensuring that states understand — and comply with — their existing obligations under civil rights laws and Students v. Harvard.”

In the February letter, Trainor offered a wide-ranging interpretation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023 involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The nation’s highest court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

Trainor wrote that though the ruling “addressed admissions decisions, the Supreme Court’s holding applies more broadly.”

The four-page letter raised a slew of questions for schools — from pre-K through college — over what exactly falls within the requirements. 

The department later released a Frequently Asked Questions document on the letter in an attempt to provide more guidance.

In the document, the department noted that it’s prohibited from “exercising control over the content of school curricula” and “nothing in Title VI, its implementing regulations, or the Dear Colleague Letter requires or authorizes a school to restrict any rights otherwise protected by the First Amendment.”

The agency also clarified that “programs focused on interests in particular cultures, heritages, and areas of the world” are allowed as long as “they are open to all students regardless of race.”

Teachers unions react

Meanwhile, legal challenges are already underway against the Dear Colleague letter, including one spearheaded by the American Federation of Teachers and another from the National Education Association. 

“In the middle of a school year, the president is trying to bully the very same school districts that he insisted, just a few weeks ago, should be in charge of education,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a Thursday statement.

Weingarten added that “this is a power grab and a money grab — and it’s also blatantly unlawful.”

“We know the administration wants to divert federal education funds into block grants, vouchers or tax cuts, but it’s simply not legal; only Congress can do that. Further, federal statute explicitly prohibits any president from telling schools and colleges what to teach, and funds cannot be withheld on the basis of Title VI Civil Rights Act claims without due process,” she said. 

In a Thursday statement, Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said “educators and parents know that teaching should be guided by what is best for students, not by threat of illegal restrictions and punishment.”

“That is why we sued the Trump administration — and we stand by our lawsuit,” she said.

“This latest action by the Trump administration to shut down free speech and coerce educators to abandon inclusive practices at school remains illegal and unconstitutional as we pointed out in our legal filing,” she added.