Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey pushes back on Trump administration order to end DEI in schools

Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald on Feb 17, 2025

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Gov. Maura Healey signaled an intent to resist an order from the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration threatening to pull federal funding from schools that do not erase any trace of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in a statement Monday.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion make our education system, our communities, our businesses and our economy stronger,” Healey said. “When we bring people with different backgrounds and perspectives to the table, we get better results.”

The governor added that “we are going to stay true to who we are in Massachusetts.”

The statement comes days after the U.S. Department of Education’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote in a letter that all elementary, secondary or higher education schools with federal funding must nix any DEI policies by Feb. 28.

The letter stated the federal government will now will consider any policy “motivated by racial considerations” within the schools at odds with civil rights law and was delivered to leading education officials in all 50 states. The federal officials cited the Supreme Court precedent of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that ended affirmative action and said DEI policies in schools’ curriculums and contracts violate anti-discrimination laws.

Healey did not give details of how Massachusetts schools may “stay true” with DEI policies.

Across the U.S., colleges and universities have reportedly begun to rename programs and alter messaging in response to early threats from the Trump administration, including at Northeastern and UPenn.

Massachusetts Teachers Association leaders also sounded off against the letter Monday, calling the move a “grotesque subversion of our country’s – and our state’s – laws and values” and stating it will “exacerbate inequities.”

“Public schools and colleges cannot revert to a time when historically marginalized students or students living in poorer communities did not have access to the same quality of education and to opportunities available to students in wealthier communities,” MTA President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy wrote. “Those gaps remain, and this letter sets forth a prescription for widening them.”

The Massachusetts teachers union said they will “work with our state’s elected officials and other unions to legally challenge discriminatory policies that will weaken our schools, colleges, and communities.”

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