Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, along with 19 other state attorneys general, has come to an agreement with the federal government to stop them from withholding funds from schools with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
“Another major defeat and retreat for the Trump administration and Linda McMahon. Connecticut schools have always and will always comply with federal civil rights laws. Trump and McMahon tried to force [Make American Great Again] ideology on Connecticut students and teachers by illegally withholding taxpayer dollars. We stopped them, and we’re going to keep fighting and winning to protect Connecticut families,” Tong said in a press release.
The Feb. 6 agreement protects the nearly $400 million that the Connecticut State Department of Education receives from the federal government, including Title I funding, which provides money for districts with many low-income students. Othereducation services funded by the federal government include special education services, recruitment and training for teachers, programming for Learning English as a Second Language services and support for children without housing, according to the press release.
“As a condition of receiving these funds, state and local education agencies provide written assurances they will comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin,” the press release said. “Connecticut has consistently and regularly certified its compliance with Title VI and its implementing regulations.”
This resolution comes nearly a year after the U.S. Department of Education sent out letters to state and local education agencies in April 2025, notifying them that they must comply with the administration’s interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says that DEI policies are discriminatory, particularly for white and Asian students.
The federal government cites Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard (2023), in which the Supreme Court found that race cannot be a factor in college admissions, as the driving factor for this anti-DEI push. Though the case applied to college applications, the U.S. Department of Education said they see it as applying more broadly.
“Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify them — particularly during the last four years — under the banner of ‘diversity, equity and inclusion,’ smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming and discipline,” wrote Craig Trainor, then-acting assistant secretary for civil rights, in a February 2025 letter. “If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law.”
In the April letter, the Department of Education made it “impermissible” for state and local education agencies to employ DEI policies to “advantage one’s race over another,” and said that DEI is a violation of federal law, but did not provide much more information or cite any federal statutes that specifically prohibit DEI policies.
In response, Connecticut Commissioner of Education Charlene Russell-Tucker wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Education, where she said the state wouldn’t comply with the original letter and that they are already in compliance with Title VI.
“Connecticut remains committed to safeguarding Connecticut students against the insidious effects of discrimination and continues to align its principles and programs with the requirements and purpose of Title VI,” Russell-Tucker wrote in the April 15, 2025 letter. “The [Connecticut State Department of Education] regularly reaffirms this commitment in applications certifying compliance with all assurances required for federal programs.”
Along with Connecticut, the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin signed onto the agreement.