Parents Defending Education founder Nicki Neily called the Biden administration’s decision to spend more than $1 billion on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming and training in U.S. schools “heartbreaking” and a poor service for American students.
“We are in a time when 40% of American students cannot read, and this is how the Biden-Harris administration chose to waste hard-earned American taxpayer dollars. It really is a slap in the face,” Neily said. Fox & Friends First” on Friday.
Researchers at Parents Defending Education reviewed nearly four years of grants awarded by the Biden administration from 2021 to date and found that the Biden administration has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on diversity, equity and inclusion grants for students and schools.
According to to the report$489,883,797 was spent on race-based hiring subsidies; $343,337,286 went to general DEI programming; and $169,301,221 went to DEI-based mental health training and programming, totaling $1,002,522,304.81.
BIDEN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SPENT MORE THAN $1 BILLION ON DEI GRANTS: REPORT
The U.S. Department of Education has spent at least $1 billion since 2021 on grants to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in hiring, programming and training of mental health professionals in U.S. schools, according to a new report. (Getty Images)
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN PUSHED OVER 500 ‘DEI ACTIONS’ WITHIN GOVERNMENT, REPORT FINDS
Examples in the report include a $3,974,496 grant to the School District of Philadelphia for a restorative justice program led by a former member of the US Communist Party; a $4,000,000 grant for a three-week residential “culturally responsive” computer science summer camp for 600 11th and 12th graders; and a $38,000 grant to a Michigan school district for a one-day professional development training by an equity consultant, along with copies of the consultant’s book.
Neily argued that DEI is harmful because it “pits people against each other” and labels people as “oppressed” or “oppressors.”
She mentioned A recent study from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University, which found that there was a significant increase in hostility and punitive attitudes among participants exposed to DEI pedagogy.
“So this is hurting American children, it’s not helping anyone. It’s hurting them,” she said Fox News.
Data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that nearly a third of U.S. public school children were behind grade level at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. (iStock)
Texas, Florida and several other states have introduced or passed legislation banning DEI in higher education. Neily said universities should be aware that DEI is on the way out with the incoming Republican administration.
“These programs need to be completely eradicated. And I think we’re going to have a major clean-up operation over the next four years,” she predicted.
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Elon Musk, co-chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrives on Capitol Hill on December 5, 2024 in Washington, DC; Vivek Ramaswamy, chairman and co-founder of Strive Asset Management, arrives to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, December 5, 2024. (Left: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Right: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Vivek Ramaswamy, who was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to help lead his new advisory board for reducing government wastealso responded to the report on X.
“This is worse than just waste,” Ramaswamy said on X.
Musk and Ramaswamy have both expressed support for dissolving the entire Department of Education, an idea that Trump floated during his presidential campaign. Linda McMahon has been nominated by Trump to lead the department in 2025.
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