False fears about DEI kill critical funding for teachers in high-needs NC schools | Opinion

The abrupt termination of $600 million in federal grants for teacher recruitment and retention ranks among the most hurtful and counterproductive actions of the new Trump administration – and that’s saying a lot.

Just how damaging and ill-conceived these cuts are has been lost in the administration’s other reckless actions ranging from renaming the Gulf of Mexico to firing thousands of federal employees without notice, cause or discernible purpose.

In the case of ending the education grants, the supposed reason was that the funds were directed at promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, worthy values that Trump has made anathema. But the grants, at least in North Carolina, are largely directed at recruiting, training and retaining much-needed teachers.

North Carolina will lose more than $90 million in grants that have bolstered teacher ranks, though it’s unclear how much of the money has already been spent. The loss comes thanks to conservatives’ fever dreams about teachers being trained to indoctrinate students in progressive views about race and gender.

In announcing the cutoff, the U.S. Department of Education’s said that training materials connected to bringing on and retaining more teachers “included inappropriate and unnecessary topics such as Critical Race Theory; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); social justice activism; ‘anti-racism’; and instruction on white privilege and white supremacy.”

In North Carolina, the grants were not about indoctrinating anyone. They were about getting more teachers — including more minority teachers — into low-performing schools in both rural and urban areas.

It has been demonstrated that minority students respond well to minority teachers. Unfortunately, such teachers are in short supply. According to Carolina Demography researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill, 56% of public school students in 2023 were persons of color while only 25% of teachers are in that group.

Beyond race, North Carolina simply needs more teachers. Low pay and low morale after being disrespected by state lawmakers has accelerated teacher turnover, especially among new teachers. North Carolina public schools started this school year with the school year with 3,142 teaching vacancies.

Grant recipients have 30 days to appeal the termination of their grants. The News & Observer’s Keung Hui reported that the affected grants included these:

• A $21.5 million grant over three years for The Innovation Project to help support teachers in eight school districts: Asheboro, Edgecombe County, Elizabeth City-Pasquotank, Lexington, Mount Airy, Scotland County, Vance County and Warren County.

• An $11.8 million grant over three years for Wake County’s Project LEADERS program to recruit and retain teachers at 24 high-needs schools.

• A $4.9 million grant over five years for East Carolina University to help recruit and train teachers to work in six school districts: Greene, Lenoir County, Tyrrell, Perquimans and Washington counties and Elizabeth City-Pasquotank.

▪ A $7.7 million grant over three years for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ Opportunity Culture Teacher Leadership Pathways Program. The program pays “highly effective” teachers up to $18,250 extra a year to stay in the classroom while taking on additional leadership roles in their school.

These funds are not about DEI. They are about a situation best described in capital letters as DIRE. North Carolina schools are underfunded and understaffed and those in the poorest districts are most in need of help in recruiting teachers.

The pain of losing this funding is compounded by the silence of state Republicans in the General Assembly and in Congress. They’ve contributed to phony concerns about indoctrination and now they are in no position to object when those contrived claims produce real losses.

Republican state lawmakers have approved hundreds of millions of dollars to provide public funds for private school tuition in the form of vouchers. They justify the expense by saying no child should be trapped in a low-performing public school.

But when grants are offered to improve those schools and assist those students, Republican lawmakers are willing to let the funding summarily terminate because hiring teachers for low-wealth schools is a threat.

It makes you wonder who really has been indoctrinated.