Sturgeon Bay School District Superintendent Dan Tjernagel believes his district and many others around the state have nothing to worry about regarding the threat of federal funding being pulled. The Associated Press reported last week that the Trump Administration is requiring K-12 schools to follow federal civil rights laws, and they are ending all discriminatory, equity, and inclusion practices. School districts have 10 days to sign and return the certification or risk its federal funding. “Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement that many schools have ignored this and use “DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another,” Tjernagel says while some school districts around the country may have instituted some DEI-related language into their policies, most school districts in northeast Wisconsin have nothing of the sorts in their policies. He believes the local schools want to do what is best for all of its students and faculty members to succeed.

Green Bay Area School District removed DEI language from several job descriptions at the end of February to comply with federal rules and potentially protect $40 million in funding. According to Wisconsin Public Radio, school board members pointed to the district’s diversity as a reason to keep the DEI language in their policies. Sixty-three percent of the Green Bay Area School District population are minorities, compared to 10-30 percent at schools in Door and Kewaunee counties.