The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE) has agreed to comply with a mandate from President Donald Trump’s Department of Education (DOE) barring racial discrimination and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in K-12 schools.
Breitbart News learned exclusively on Monday that PRDOE is the first K-12 State Education Agency (SEA) to certify its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students v. Harvard decision striking down affirmative action, as a condition of receiving federal funding. The DOE sent memos to State Commissioners overseeing K-12 SEAs throughout the United States on April 3, giving them 10 days to certify compliance.
“The Puerto Rico Department of Education understands that this is not a controversial request: when education commissioners accept federal funds, they are legally required to abide by civil rights laws,” Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Craig Trainor told Breitbart News.
“As OCR ensures compliance with antidiscrimination laws across the country, we are asking that states affirm their understanding of these obligations,” Trainor continued. “The U.S. Department of Education applauds Puerto Rico’s stance against unlawful discrimination, and we encourage states to follow its lead.”
A picture of PRDOE’s certification shows the SEA signed the document one day after the DOE sent it:
Puerto Rico’s agreement comes as Democrat-run states and cities defy the DoE’s certification request, including New York and Chicago. The New York State Education Department on Friday responded to DoE’s request making its refusal clear, the New York Times reported.
“We understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems ‘diversity, equity & inclusion,” wrote Daniel Morton-Bentley, the deputy commissioner for legal affairs at the state education agency in New York. “But there are no federal or state laws prohibiting the principles of D.E.I..”
Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters Friday that the city would file a lawsuit against the Trump administration if the DOE halts funding, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“We’re not going to be intimidated by these threats,” Johnson said. “It’s just that simple. So whatever it is that this tyrant is trying to do to this city, we’re going to fight back.”
The DOE’s compliance requests went out after its OCR sent a letter on February 14 to educational institutions that receive federal funds, telling them they must stop using race preferences and stereotypes as a factor in admissions, hiring, promotion, scholarship, prizes, administrative support, sanctions, discipline, and other programs and activities.
RELATED: Education Department Opens Investigations into 45 Universities for Racial Preference Allegations
The Trump administration has repeatedly pointed to Title VI, which states, “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
In the February letter, the OCR also detailed how the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down affirmative action is being more broadly interpreted.
“Although [the decision] addressed admissions decisions, the Supreme Court’s holding applies more broadly. At its core, the test is simple: If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law,” the letter reads.
“Federal law thus prohibits covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life. Put simply, educational institutions may neither separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race,” the letter continues:
Although some programs may appear neutral on their face, a closer look reveals that they are, in fact, motivated by racial considerations. And race-based decision-making, no matter the form, remains impermissible. For example, a school may not use students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars, or other cues as a means of determining or predicting a student’s race and favoring or disfavoring such students…Other programs discriminate in less direct, but equally insidious, ways. DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racal groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not. Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes.
Consequently, they deny students the ability to participate fully in the life of a school. The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions. The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent. All students are entitled to a school environment free from discrimination. The Department is committed to ensuring those principles are a reality.
Puerto Rico is uniquely situated, in that 68 percent of the territory’s education budget comes from federal funding, compared to an average of 11 percent in U.S. states, the Boston Globe reported.
“On the island, 55 percent of children live below the poverty line, compared with 17 percent in the 50 states; for students in special education, the figures are 35 percent and 15 percent, respectively,” according to the report. “The [DOE] also administers Pell Grants for low-income students — some 72 percent of Puerto Rican students apply — and supports professional development efforts and initiatives for Puerto Rican children who move back and forth between the mainland and territory.”
Puerto Rico’s certification of compliance comes as the DOE investigates 45 universities over alleged race-based preferences and policies and as Education Secretary Linda McMahon works to wind down the department, in line with President Trump’s executive order. Both President Trump and Secretary McMahon have repeatedly stated they are not looking to defund services that go to states and territories, but are instead working to move various functions to other government agencies.
The department has also axed hundreds of millions of dollars in DEI-related grants, stripped its website of 2,000-plus pages and related materials that advance DEI and gender ideology, and launched a public portal for parents, students, teachers, and communities to submit reports of sex and race-based discrimination in public K-12 schools.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
