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In the weeks following a flurry of executive orders dismantling diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs, public school districts across the United States have begun to implement President Donald Trump’s new policies by cutting DEIA language from material and curriculum.

These changes have disproportionate negative impacts in redlined communities like the city of Syracuse, said George Theoharis, a Syracuse University professor of educational leadership and inclusive education. Trump’s efforts threaten to undo progress, he said, such as by eliminating programs for children with disabilities and cutting classes designed to support non-English-speaking students.

“If we start rolling back those things quickly, those opportunities will disappear very fast for kids,” Theoharis said. “Kids, we have real evidence, should and can flourish in every part of their school. If these sorts of things will start changing, it will take a long time to recover.”

Since taking office, Trump has signed over 70 executive orders. One, titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” mandates federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education, to eliminate all DEI programs, initiatives and positions within 60 days of the order’s release or face the risk of losing access to federal funding.

Just over 7% of funding for public schools in New York state comes from the federal government, totaling about $2,500 per student annually, according to USAFacts. But for the Syracuse City School District, federal funding is over three times the state average, totaling 22.7%, or $7,900 for each student.

If SCSD doesn’t adhere to the new policies, it could risk losing millions in federal funds for over 19,000 students in the region.

“A fundamental part of schools is to make a place where the breadth of diversity that we have in our country and in all of our communities is welcoming and affirmed, and (students) can flourish both academically, socially and all the other spaces,” Theoharis said.

Mya Leonforte, a sophomore at SU in the inclusive childhood education program, works directly with students in SCSD as a part of her studies. She said DEIA programs are crucial in public schools, and their elimination would lower students’ quality of education. In her classroom, Leonforte said students learn about a different culture or religious holiday every day.

“One day, they were learning about Ramadan and one of the kids was so excited,” Leonforte said. “They told me, ‘We celebrate Ramadan at my house!’ It was so exciting because you could tell that it meant so much to that kid that their religion and culture was being celebrated.”

She said activities like these could be deemed “DEIA initiatives” and expressed concern for students who will either lose these opportunities or face major funding reductions in their district.

Despite the possibility of widespread cuts, Christopher Cleveland, an assistant professor of education and education policy at Brown University, is uncertain about the extent of the orders’ impacts in public schools.

Cleveland said the Trump administration has been unclear with many of these mandates, with some directly contradicting historic policies. such as the Civil Rights Acts, that prohibit discrimination and call for the integration of segregated schools. Many cities in the U.S., including Syracuse, still see high levels of segregation in the public school system.

Theoharis said most people in midwestern and northern states fail to recognize that their cities contain some of the most segregated school districts in the country because they haven’t adapted to post-redlining policies or a desegregated school system following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

“We haven’t ever been willing to desegregate certain cities in the way that we were willing to desegregate places in the South,” Theoharis said. “And people would say that’s the hypocrisy of the North, right? It’s sort of our, our liberal whiteness, like northern whiteness saying we don’t want to touch this.”

Redlining is one of the main causes of continued segregation. Beginning in 1934, the Federal Housing Administration released maps rating city districts based primarily on the racial demographics of residents. As a result, homeowners living in lower-ranked areas struggled to acquire housing loans, trapping them within their districts.

Despite the practice being formally eradicated by the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the borders drawn within the maps continue to segregate communities across America.

Cleveland said neighborhoods that received a lower rating in the redlining system in the 1930s–40s often mirror the areas that now perform lower in schools and require more assistance from DEI-related funding.

“Evidence about the experiences of different types of racial groups in connection to issues around poverty, in particular, that show these students have multiple different needs,” Cleveland said. “Oftentimes, (these students) might also need particular types of help to be successful.”

Leonforte said DEI programs are particularly important to maintain in diverse school districts.

“It’s really important for kids to be taught by somebody who looks like them…and a lot of the DEI funding also goes to that and making sure that those children feel heard in the classroom,” Leonforte said.

While Republicans and Democrats clash over the orders, Cleveland said the politicization of DEIA could be avoided through open dialogue between parties, especially surrounding the government’s role in administering or instituting related policies.

Theoharis said while the Trump administration implies DEIA efforts take opportunities away from those who deserve them, most inclusion efforts have instead brought more qualified people into jobs where they were overlooked in the past.

“We have a history of needing intervention,” Theoharis said. “We as a nation, well intended or not, do not sit around and hold hands and give everybody equal opportunity.”

Published on February 25, 2025 at 11:48 pm

Contact Arabella: akklonow@syr.edu