The Arizona State Board of Education is finally and a little grudgingly accepting the Trump administration’s anti-DEI standards for schools.
The board voted on Dec. 8 to comply with Donald Trump’s executive order. It has also assigned the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to define diversity, equity, and inclusion and remove connected language from school curriculum, according to AZCentral this week.
It is not clear why ADE would not simply adopt the Trump administration‘s definition, or if perhaps it is seeking a loophole to keep the ideas of DEI in schools without the same exact language.
ADE will be assessing the Structured English Immersion curriculum and the Arizona Professional Teaching Standards, among other programs and policies. The former is specifically for students learning to speak English, requiring them to spend a certain number of hours a day with the language.
Arizona, of course, has a very large Hispanic population, but it also more specifically has a large illegal immigrant population. Many foreigners, including from Muslim countries, have filled up our schools, often without knowing any English.
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As for the Professional Teaching Standards, removing DEI language from them will also be significant in that it could impact whether teachers are assessed on irrelevant characteristics such as their sex or skin color versus their performance and qualifications.
Of course, AZCentral is worried students will be “negatively” impacted by the rejection of woke Marxist nonsense. Students might actually receive an education instead of a leftist brainwashing. The horror, the horror!!
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne was firm about eschewing DEI language, however: “These terms do not belong in teaching standards, which are meant to direct educators on the most effective ways to teach students’ core academics.” AZCentral explained further:
Work on the revisions will begin January 2026 with the department appointing educators and administrators to oversee the process. The department will have a draft ready to present to the Board of Education for consideration in September, according to Horne.
Perhaps Horne was galvanized to action because Arizona schools would lose $866 million in taxpayer money from the federal government should they not comply with Trump’s EO.
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Trump’s day-one executive order ended federal DEI programs and also ordered each government agency to assess how to eliminate DEI ideology in all its relevant activities. “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great,” Trump wrote.
The main concern going forward is one to which I referred above; namely, that the DEI language might be replaced, but the pernicious ideas will remain. Axing the DEI language is an excellent step in the right direction, however.
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