By Alvin Buyinza
Word In Black
A federal judge in New Hampshire officially put an end to a Trump administration directive that public K-12 schools and colleges end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, or risk losing millions in federal funding.
The ruling from District Judge Landya McCafferty this week is in response to a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration last year over its “Dear Colleague Letter.”
But it also comes weeks after the Trump administration dropped its appeal in a separate federal court ruling regarding the letter. In that ruling — which stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Teachers and other groups — a Maryland federal judge found that the letter violated educators’ First Amendment rights.
Now that the federal government has lost both cases, the looming anxiety educators feel across the country over what they can or cannot teach is somewhat alleviated.
‘Diversity is our uniqueness and our strength’
Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association teachers’ union, hailed the decision, slamming Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the White House for trying to meddle with “curriculum and instruction.”
“Diversity is our uniqueness and our strength,” Pringle, president of the nation’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement. “Equity means every student gets what they need, when they need it, and in the way that serves them best. And inclusion means all students are seen, valued, respected, and have access to opportunities and support.”
Though the case has ended, “Educators, parents, and community leaders will continue to organize, mobilize, and take action to protect our students and their futures.” she said.
The Department of Education did not respond to Word In Black’s request for comment.
What was the “Dear Colleague Letter”?
The letter, signed by Craig Trainor, then the acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, told schools they had 14 days to comply with the directive or face consequences, including the loss of funding.
Shortly after the letter was posted last February, the American Civil Liberties Union, its branches in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as NEA’s attorneys, sued the federal government. The Center for Black Educator Development, a nonprofit that supports Black teachers, also joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff.
In April 2025, McCafferty temporarily blocked the directive, finding that it “isolated characterizations of unlawful DEI” and clashed with the term’s actual meaning.
Citing Webster’s dictionary, the judge wrote that the phrase “diversity, equity, and inclusion” commonly denotes “a set of values and related policies and practices focused on establishing a group culture of equitable and inclusive treatment” as well as aiding people “who have historically been excluded or discriminated against.”
She later said that the ACLU and its fellow plaintiffs likely would prevail because the directive was vague, restricted speech the administration disagrees with, and illegally imposed new legal obligations on teachers and schools.
After the case ended Feb. 18, Sharif El-Mekki, CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development, said in a statement that the federal ruling protects teachers’ livelihoods and their responsibility to teach truthfully “at a time when many communities are facing severe teacher shortages.”
Teachers are free to bring “their full selves to the classroom,” El-Mekki said. Now, he said, educators are free to create “inclusive environments that prepare students for the future.”
This article was originally published by Word In Black.
