by Eric Lendrum
A new report claims that the Biden Administration’s Department of Education has spent over $1 billion on grants that force the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda in hiring practices, programming, and mental health training in public schools.
According to Fox News, the report from the watchdog group Parents Defending Education (PDE) claims that this DEI spending has been ongoing since 2021. PDE researchers found a total of 229 such grants across 42 states, plus Washington D.C., during the roughly four-year time period.
With the spending broken down along specific criteria, nearly $490 million was spent for grants that demanded more racial bias in hiring practices, while $343 million was spent on general DEI programs, and another $170 million was spent on mandating DEI-based mental health training. This amounts to just over $1 billion, at approximately $1,002,522,304.
This spending “incorporates both awarded (committed) and disbursed dollars, as most of the grant money is distributed [a] period of several years,” the report reads.
One of the researchers who worked on the report, Rhyen Staley, said it was likely that the report does not even account for every single grant that may be considered pro-DEI, as the report narrowed down their search to a handful of criteria. This led to the researchers ignoring many other grants that they determined to be simply using “buzzwords” rather than actively promoting DEI.
“The only people or groups to benefit from the enormous amount of grant funding are the universities, administrators, and DEI consultants, at the expense of children’s education,” said Staley. “This needs to change by placing children’s learning at the forefront of education, instead of prioritizing race-based policies and DEI.”
A statement was issued by PDE Senior Advisor Michele Exner, declaring that “over one billion dollars [have been] squandered on progressive pet projects all while American students’ academic performance continues to plummet. Under Secretary [Miguel] Cardona, this organization has been a complete farce that has failed families and students time and time again.”
“This will be the legacy of the Biden administration’s Department of Education,” Exner added. “Families are fed up and are excited for January when we will have new leadership in the nation’s capital who will focus on getting this toxic and divisive waste out of our education system.”
The Department of Education has long been a target of conservative scrutiny, with many advocating for the abolition of the department altogether, as it has failed to improve average test scores or education quality across the nation. President-elect Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail that he would eliminate the department, a sentiment that was echoed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the leaders of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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Eric Lendrum reports for American Greatness.
