The state Board of Education tabled a request Monday from the Arizona Department of Education to change teaching standards to get rid of language possibly related to “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January threatening to cut federal funding to any DEI grant programs.
Most of that order is unenforceable due to an injunction, but Arizona Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is urging the state board to ferret out any DEI language in teaching standards, which were last updated in 2011.
Otherwise, he claimed Trump may cut all of Arizona’s federal education funding.
“He’s got the power to cut that funding and we must avoid an $800 million cut to our budget for our students. I’m not sure that’s sinking in, and I'm upset about it,” Horne said.
The state board, however, did not share Horne’s sense of urgency.
Board members like Kathy Wiebke agreed to take the matter up again in six weeks when there's a clearer idea of who will be reviewing the teaching standards and what they actually need to look for.
“I think as this moves forward, it’s very important to have a very diverse committee and I just have some serious concerns,” Wiebke said.
Board member Jacqui Clay said she sees value in training teachers to educate students from different cultures and backgrounds. She and Wiebke questioned some of the proposed strikethrough language the department presented.
'Equitably' is an $866 million word
Horne insists if Arizona doesn’t eliminate words like “equitably” from teaching standards, the state stands to lose all of its $866 million in federal education funding.
“Equity used to have a positive meaning — fairness. But with the growth of woke ideology, it has come to mean equal results based on race,” Horne said in an email to KJZZ. “The most significant philosophical divide in this country today is between those like myself who believe in individual merit and those who believe in racial entitlement. … If that prevails, the US will become a mediocre power and China will call the shots. Imagine a world like that.”
Horne said when teachers are instructed to be sensitive to kids coming from different backgrounds, it's a problem.
"They're teaching academics. And all kids, as individuals, can learn academics. In practice, what happens is when they're culturally sensitive, they dumb down the requirements for the minority kids," Horne said.
He concluded that considering students’ cultural backgrounds is unnecessary.
"Minority kids can learn just as well as other kids,'' Horne continued. "And you don't need to treat them differently.''
Why now?
Although Trump’s order was issued in January, ADE spokesperson Doug Nick said in a statement that the deans of Arizona’s three public universities found in July the standards don’t comply with federal guidance, which caused ADE to start researching the issue.
Nick said the research process took a lot of time, so the October meeting was the first chance to address ADE’s request.
“This delay is unnecessary and only adds to the risk of federal action,” Nick said of the board’s decision.
Nick also referred to a letter the state received from the U.S. Department of Education in February, instructing schools to eliminate DEI.
The letter states American schools have been discriminating on the basis of race, and particularly against white and Asian students.
There was also an April request from the feds that the state must certify it is not using DEI, with a reminder of financial penalties for failure to comply.
