Skip to main content
The Oregon Department of Education is pushing back against an April 3 federal order for states to scrap DEI programs, or risk losing federal funding.
The order told states and local education agencies to certify compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the June 2023 Supreme Court ruling that banned affirmative action from college admissions. A document the federal government ordered state agencies to sign was more broadly a broadside on diversity, equity and inclusion in K–12 programs, and would subject school districts to penalties that include thousands of dollars in fines if they were found using them after complying.
In a Thursday response to the federal government before the 10-day deadline, ODE director Dr. Charlene Williams certified the department’s compliance with Title VI, but pushed back on what she said was an overreach of the federal government’s authority. Williams wrote that the federal government had certified Oregon’s compliance on Oct. 25, 2023, and that its numerous other certifications and assurances were also still valid. “Any further request by USDOE is duplicative, unnecessary, and unduly burdensome,” Williams wrote.
ODE did not sign the certification document from the federal government, spokesman Peter Rudy says. “The letter from Dr. Williams is our official response to USDOE; we will not be submitting any other response.”
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek backed the agency. “I promised Oregonians that I would not back down from a fight when it comes to safeguarding Oregon values,” she said in a Thursday statement.
“The Trump administration’s threat to shortchange Oregon students hurts children and families and undermines the dedication and work of our educators. That is why I directed ODE to hold the line today,” Kotek added. “We will not tolerate this unwarranted and unlawful attempt to take away resources promised to Oregon students and paid for by the tax dollars we send to the federal government.”
Williams also asserted that the request for additional certification “seemingly seeks to change the terms and conditions of ODE’s award without formal administrative process.” She wrote that the request violated a number of rulemaking procedures.
“Threats to this federal funding without lawful authority or established requirements put key programs at risk that students and schools across Oregon depend on every day,” Williams wrote. “There is no circumstance where it is OK to leverage children’s resources as a political tool.”
According to EdTrust, an education research and advocacy organization, Oregon collected about $433.5 million in federal funding for pre-K to 12th grade students and $17.8 million for career and technical education programs in fiscal year 2025. The scale of DEI programs in Oregon schools remains unclear.
But it appears that ODE has no intention to cancel those programs, though the intent of the federal certification is, in large part, to try and coerce state governments into halting such programming.
Williams wrote that the certification document unclearly defined such terms as “certain DEI practices” and “illegal DEI,” making compliance confusing. She adds that no federal or state laws currently bar DEI practices.
“Oregon remains fiercely committed to its values of diversity, equity and inclusion, and we celebrate our differences and common humanity,” Williams wrote. “We are standing up for the rights of all Oregonians and will continue to promote diversity in our schools because we recognize it enhances learning outcomes for all students.”
This is the first notable pushback from ODE to the federal government, which also suspended $3.5 million of the department’s extended COVID-era relief dollars. While other states are appealing the sudden expiration dates, some experts have suspected ODE did not do so in part because the programs it was funding did not directly affect student outcomes, an allegation the agency has denied.