SAN ANTONIO – As part of his plan to reform education, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he wants to ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at K-12 public schools.
Last week, Abbott posted on X (formerly Twitter), “This session, we will ban DEI in K-12 grades and cut funding. No taxpayer dollars will be used to fund DEI in our schools. Schools must focus on fundamentals of education, not indoctrination.”
However, DEI supporters dislike the idea. They argue that DEI offices have helped give African-American, Latino, LGBTQ+ and other minorities a seat at the table.
“They’re going to exacerbate...where we are already seeing a gap in teachers of color and students of color,” Embracing Equity CEO Rashi Jawade said.
The nonprofit works with schools nationwide to develop “anti-racist mindsets and practices.”
“In the country, 53% of students are students of color. And yet, 82% of the teaching workforce is white,” Jawade said. “And that number is exacerbated in Texas, where 73% of students are students of color. And yet, 40% of our schools across the country do not have even a single teacher of color.
“We already see discrepancies in discipline data and things like that where students of color and marginalized students, low-income students, students with disabilities are disproportionately impacted.”
Abbott has not revealed how he plans to proceed with the DEI ban, but he embraced a similar idea and signed it into law two years ago. In 2023, Texas passed Senate Bill 17, which banned DEI offices, programs and training from publicly funded universities.
Jawade told KSAT that even with DEI programs under threat, parents can still control what happens in their children’s schools.
“That doesn’t mean that we have to stop caring about our kids, about whether all of the kids are feeling a sense of belonging,” Jawade said. “And so, I think [what] it’s going to come down to is what our local parents, teachers, schools, and school boards do.”
Under the 2023 measure, publicly funded universities in Texas cannot create diversity offices, hire employees to carry out diversity-related initiatives or require DEI training.