By Melanie Asmar | Chalkbeat Colorado
Colorado will refuse a demand from the Trump administration to certify that its schools have eliminated what the federal government says are illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, state Commissioner of Education Susana Córdova said Thursday.
“I am not signing that,” Córdova said. “I am not asking our districts to sign that.”
However, Córdova told the State Board of Education she will sign a new assurance that the state is in compliance with Title VI, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, “so that my name, in addition to the department’s previous commissioner who signed our previous assurance, is on file and on record to be able to indicate that we are fully enforcing Title VI.”
The U.S. Department of Education told state education agencies on April 3 that they must certify they are in compliance with the Trump administration’s contested interpretation of federal civil rights law when it comes to such programs. States that don’t sign will lose their federal funding, including Title I dollars for high-poverty schools, the federal department said.
Colorado received about $800 million in federal funding this school year, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education said. That included about $168 million in Title I funds.
The deadline for states to sign the certification is April 24. States’ reactions have been mixed.
New York officials have said they won’t comply. Illinois’ school chief is also pushing back. Pennsylvania officials are signaling they will not order schools to eliminate DEI initiatives. But the Indiana Department of Education said it “fully intends to sign the certification.”
Córdova said the Trump administration’s request runs afoul of a federal law called the Paperwork Reduction Act. The law says that when federal agencies want to collect information, they must follow a process that includes posting a public notice and holding two public comment periods — one for 60 days and one for 30 days — to gather feedback on the request.