The Trump administration has dropped an effort to defund schools that teach “diversity, equity and inclusion.” The legal move undermines a top Arizona official’s threats to schools.
One year ago, President Donald Trump issued an executive order pledging to defund any schools teaching DEI, but a federal judge blocked that order in August, finding it was a violation of the First Amendment.
The Trump administration was seeking an appeal until this week.
Arizona GOP Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne made defunding schools a central threat in his annual address to lawmakers on Tuesday.
Horne said hundreds of millions of dollars are at risk unless Arizona reviews its teaching standards to eradicate any “DEI” language. He also told lawmakers he was prepared to cut funding because he agrees with the Trump administration that DEI is wrong.
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Phoenix Union High School District employees have access to a new safety feature this year. All staffers now wear crisis alert badges that allow them to send for help with the press of a button. -
The Tolleson Elementary School District is one of several districts implementing new strategies to fight chronic absences. The superintendent says they saw a 12-percentage-point decrease in chronic absenteeism from the 2024–2025 school year to the 2025–2026 school year. -
The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind failed to properly collect or recover more than $4.5 million in revenue, according to a three-year forensic audit released by the Arizona Auditor General’s Office. -
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has joined a multistate coalition that’s fighting federal changes to Head Start programs. -
The Scottsdale Unified School District’s governing board voted 3-2 to close two more schools Tuesday night. The district’s enrollment has declined by 26% since 2010.
