NJ will keep $1B after feds abandon school DEI demands
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... In a win for New Jersey, the state has retained $1 billion in approved federal funding for K12 public schools that the Trump administration said it would withhold if states did not comply with its demand that schools certify that their "DEI practices" are lawful.
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The settlement by the attorneys general of New Jersey and 18 other states "will prevent the federal government from unlawfully withholding over $1 billion in critical federal funding to state and local education agencies in New Jersey," Jennifer Davenport, the state's acting attorney general, said in a statement on Monday February 9. [2026]
..... The Trump administration basically abandoned the demands after a federal District Court in Maryland in a parallel lawsuit ruled against the directive.
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The administration agreed that the Maryland court's decision also applies to New jersey and the other states in the multi-state lawsuit.
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"In New Heresy, we will continue to stand against the Trump administration's relentless - and illegal -attacks on our most vulnerable residents," Governor Mikie Sherril said. "The U.S. Department of Education's nonsensical decision to cut off funds for our schools is an affront to hardworking families across our state, especially those in need of specialized education services."
..... Nineteen Democratic-led states sued U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon over an April 3 [2025] directive sent to state education commissioners saying they needed to certify that their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts were in compliance with anti discrimination obligations, to continue receiving federal financial assistance.
..... New Jersey responded by declining to sign the letter. The directive invited wide outrage and lawsuits, coming on the heels of an earlier letter suggesting that public schools have systematically discriminated against students by considering diversity in lessons and in programming.
..... Attorney general sued, saying the presidential directive was ambiguous and left schools without a clear sense of what "illegal DEI" means, and that the ambiguity pressured states to "curtail lawful congressionally sanctioned and required initiative and programs."
..... New Jersey was wared about $445 million in formula federal IDEA funding in fiscal year 2024, just one of the funding streams that the directive threatened, the lawsuit said.