In just 48 hours, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has slashed $370 million in taxpayer-funded diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) spending within the Department of Education.
DOGE, the cost-cutting agency led by Elon Musk, announced on X that it had terminated 70 DEI training grants, which totaled $373 million. One of the grants had been funding teacher training programs designed to promote “ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets,” according to DOGE.
This is the latest in a series of DEI-related funding cuts by DOGE. In recent weeks, the agency also canceled a $9.7 million grant for UC Berkeley that aimed to create “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise-driven skills.” Just days ago, DOGE eliminated 89 Department of Education contracts worth $881 million, which included over $100 million in DEI-related grants.
The Department of Education has been intensifying its crackdown on DEI programs, recently ordering all 50 state education departments to eliminate DEI policies within 14 days or risk losing federal funding. In a letter, the department stated that “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions” would no longer be tolerated.
