School Funds Redirected to Left Wing Propaganda

Last January, the House Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services held a hearing titled “America’s Report Card: Oversight of K-12 Public Education” At the hearing, lawmakers examined how billions of dollars in taxpayer funds distributed to state educational agencies to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools and to help them reopen safely were frequently misused to support pet projects and left-wing political agendas.

The Subcommittee found that “The Nation’s Report Card shows test scores in reading and math have significantly declined.

Despite the well-known harms of school closures and ineffectiveness of remote education, Democrats continue to put politics before students.

“The connection between closures and learning loss is clear. Education recovery scorecard and return to learn data show that in math, the most in-person third of districts lost 44 percent of a year’s progress. The most remote third lost 60 percent,” Dr. Nat Malkus, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of Education Policy Studies at American Enterprise Institute said during his opening statement.

“The President and governors, leaders on Capitol Hill, and in districts must decisively communicate that pandemic-era exceptionalism in schools is over,” Dr. Malkus continued.

School districts are increasingly investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs instead of focusing on student performance.

The recently released Parents Defending Education verifies those findings, exposing the misuse of approximately $1 Billion in grant funding. The analysis notes that:

Total ED Grant Money Awarded (2021-present): $1,002,522,304.81.
Total number of ED grants (2021-present): 229
Number of States: 42 plus Washington D.C.
Number of K-12 school districts: 296
Number of K-12 students*: 6,766,158

Parents Defending Education breaks the grants down into “three buckets:

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Hiring: $489,883,797.81
- This category includes DEI or race-based recruiting, training, and hiring practices. Read more about DEI Hiring in K-12 here.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Programming: $343,337,286
- This category includes general DEI programming and trainings, discipline including restorative practices, and youth activism.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Based Mental health/Social Emotional Learning (SEL): $169,301,221
- This category includes DEI based mental health training programs and SEL trainings and programming. Some grants covered two or all of the above categories, in those cases, the grant was counted only towards the most dominant category.”

The analysis provides key takeaways:

Multiple grants feature programming that advances race-based teacher recruiting, hiring, and training, including the use of race-based affinity groups.
Several grants were issued for youth activism programming widely used in far-left ethnic studies courses.
A $4,000,000 grant was given for a 3-week residential “culturally responsive” computer science summer camp for 600 11th and 12th graders.
Grants often feature Social, Emotional Learning (SEL) programming that uses curricula like Second Step and Harmony, as well as transformative SEL.
The University of Iowa received a grant award of $1,261,718 to train 40 elementary teachers to “enact equity-centered education” in partner K-12 districts.
The University of Missouri – St. Louis was awarded a $306,209 grant to train school counselors in Trauma-Informed, Antiracist Social-Emotional Learning (TIAR-SEL).
The School District of Philadelphia was given $3,973,175 for its restorative justice program that is modeled after Oakland Unified School District’s (CA), and a program advisor is a far-left activist and former Communist Party USA member.
A Michigan school district spent over $38,000 on an equity consultant for a one-day professional development and copies of their book.

From 2021 to the present, the Department of Education (ED) awarded to universities, school districts, and nonprofits 162 grants totaling $1,002,522,304.81. This report only captures grants that specifically included diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), restorative practices, and/or youth activism as part of the programming.

Quick Analysis

School Funds Redirected to Left Wing Propaganda

The Parents Defending Education organization has released a report exposing extensive waste within the Department of Education, much of it taking funds from legitimate teaching purposes and shifting those dollars to leftist ideological propaganda. Last January, the House Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services held a hearing titled “America’s Report Card: Oversight of K-12 Public Education” At the hearing, lawmakers examined how billions of dollars in taxpayer funds distributed to state educational agencies to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools and to help them reopen safely were frequently misused to support pet projects and left-wing political agendas. The Subcommittee found that “The Nation’s Report Card shows test scores in reading and math have significantly declined. Despite the well-known harms of school closures and ineffectiveness of remote education, Democrats continue to put politics before students. “The connection between closures and learning loss is clear. Education recovery scorecard and return to learn data show that in math, the most in-person third of districts lost 44 percent of a year’s progress. The most remote third lost 60 percent,” Dr. Nat Malkus, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of Education Policy Studies at American Enterprise Institute said during his opening statement. “The President and governors, leaders on Capitol Hill, and in districts must decisively communicate that pandemic-era exceptionalism in schools is over,” Dr. Malkus continued. School districts are increasingly investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs instead of focusing on student performance. The recently released Parents Defending Education verifies those findings, exposing the misuse of approximately $1 Billion in grant funding. The analysis notes that: Total ED Grant Money Awarded (2021-present): $1,002,522,304.81. Total number of ED grants (2021-present): 229 Number of States: 42 plus Washington D.C. Number of K-12 school districts: 296 Number of K-12 students*: 6,766,158 Parents Defending Education breaks the grants down into “three buckets: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Hiring: $489,883,797.81 This category includes DEI or race-based recruiting, training, and hiring practices. Read more about DEI Hiring in K-12 here. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Programming: $343,337,286 This category includes general DEI programming and trainings, discipline including restorative practices, and youth activism. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Based Mental health/Social Emotional Learning (SEL): $169,301,221 This category includes DEI based mental health training programs and SEL trainings and programming. Some grants covered two or all of the above categories, in those cases, the grant was counted only towards the most dominant category.” The analysis provides key takeaways: Multiple grants feature programming that advances race-based teacher recruiting, hiring, and training, including the use of race-based affinity groups. Several grants were issued for youth activism programming widely used in far-left ethnic studies courses. A $4,000,000 grant was given for a 3-week residential “culturally responsive” computer science summer camp for 600 11th and 12th graders. Grants often feature Social, Emotional Learning (SEL) programming that uses curricula like Second Step and Harmony, as well as transformative SEL. The University of Iowa received a grant award of $1,261,718 to train 40 elementary teachers to “enact equity-centered education” in partner K-12 districts. The University of Missouri – St. Louis was awarded a $306,209 grant to train school counselors in Trauma-Informed, Antiracist Social-Emotional Learning (TIAR-SEL). The School District of Philadelphia was given $3,973,175 for its restorative justice program that is modeled after Oakland Unified School District’s (CA), and a program advisor is a far-left activist and former Communist Party USA member. A Michigan school district spent over $38,000 on an equity consultant for a one-day professional development and copies of their book. From 2021 to the present, the Department of Education (ED) awarded to universities, school districts, and nonprofits 162 grants totaling $1,002,522,304.81. This report only captures grants that specifically included diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), restorative practices, and/or youth activism as part of the programming.