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MPS is already in trouble over the district office's failure to meet reporting and aid request deadlines and its endemic fiscal mismanagement. An audit that was released this past week revealed new details about what's driving that situation. One of the examples the auditors used to spotlight MPS' inefficiencies was its DEI department, and they included recommendations for how to address them.
"The Department of Equity, Access and Inclusion, Positive Behavior, Intervention and Supports and Restorative Practices (EAI - PBIS & RP) and the Department of Equity, Access, and Inclusion, Black and Latino Male Achievement and Gender Identity & Inclusion (EAI - BLMA & GII) currently fall under the Office of the Chief of Staff but are functionally run by the Chief of Academics. These Equity Departments are also examples of Board member-championed initiatives that have unclear, and likely overlapping, objectives," according to the report.
None of the auditors' recommendations for fixing these problems matter, however, because MPS needs to dump its DEI department all together or risk even more financial challenges.
President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 29th that bans all discrimination in K12 schools, specifically calling out DEI policies that "an individual, by virtue of the individual's race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion."
Trump directs the Department of Education to develop a plan within the next 90 days to end all federal funding to school districts that directly or indirectly supports DEI policies. It could be argued all of MPS' funding at least indirectly supports those policies.
MPS is expected to get $232 million in federal aid this year, which makes up over 15% of its total budget. All of that is at risk if MPS insists on maintaining its DEI policies and office.
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