Are Equity-Based School Discipline Policies Failing Our Classrooms?

 This Executive Order, issued on April 23, 2025, seeks to overturn federal policies that emphasize racial equity in school discipline. Citing concerns about classroom safety and academic decline, the order criticizes the 2014 "Dear Colleague" letter for encouraging schools to avoid discipline based on disparate impact statistics. It mandates the return to race-neutral policies focused on student behavior, eliminates federal support for “discriminatory equity ideology,” and calls for the creation of model discipline policies rooted in “American values.” Critics argue this approach ignores systemic inequities and could worsen racial disparities.