The Radical Undoing of Civil Rights in Marin’s K-12 Public Schools

By MVFREE Education Team, September 2025 Newsletter

The anti-equity majority that has taken control of the Tam Union High School District (TUHSD) Board of Trustees (Cynthia Roenisch, Kevin Saavedra, and Jenny Holden) have leveled attacks against Black student services, diversity hiring, and inclusive curriculum. These actions are part of an aggressive nationwide MAGA effort to outlaw and penalize all manifestations of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our public schools. A brief review of recent federal actions illustrates the seriousness of these attacks and the threat that they pose to educational access and academic freedoms in Marin County and throughout the nation. MVFREE will continue to closely follow the actions of the Trump administration and its adherents on our local school boards and keep you informed of opportunities for advocacy and action.

Federal Actions Affecting Local Public Schools

The Trump administration is using its power over federal education funding to reshape the landscape and curriculum in U.S. K-12 public schools. The administration aims to eliminate all programs, services, and curriculum that reflect or support those who are marginalized and disadvantaged because of their race, immigration, or LGBTQ status.[1] Since January, the Trump administration has:

•  Directed the Secretary of Education to rescind protections for LGBTQ students aimed at creating and supporting inclusive environments. Executive Order (Jan. 20, 2025).

•  Authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in K-12 schools (rescinding a longstanding ban). Education Week. (Jan 22, 2025).

•   Ordered the Secretaries of Education, Defense, and Health and Human Services to create a plan to eliminate federal support for DEI (cynically referred to by the administration as “discriminatory equity ideology”) and gender identity in K-12 school materials. Executive Order (Jan. 29, 2025).

•   Dictated right-wing ideological tenets in K-12 schooling (e.g., mandating the use of binary gender definitions, banning themes of power, privilege, and oppression in the context of race, and censoring terms like “unconscious bias”, “systemic racism”, and “colonialism” that they claim are a threat to “national unity.”) Id.

•  Issued a tortured and patently erroneous interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 proclaiming that programs aimed at achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion in K-12 schools constitute unlawful “discrimination” against majoritarian interests. U.S. Dept. of Education Letter (Feb. 14. 2025).

•   Threatened to withhold federal funds from all states and districts that operate DEI programs. Id.

•   Demanded that all U.S. K-12 school districts certify within ten days that they are complying with the administration’s anti-DEI proclamation or lose federal funding. U.S. Dept. of Education Letter (April 3, 2025)

•   Issued “guidance” for educational institutions and other recipients of federal funding stating that engaging in DEI activities including staff trainings and hiring practices that encourage diversity could result in the loss of federal funding. U.S. Attorney General Letter (July 29, 2025).

California Pushback and Projected Impact on Marin County Schools

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has responded to the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of California’s local educational agencies (LEAs) declining to provide the requested anti-DEI certifications. His letter explains that, consistent with established State practices, “California and its nearly 2,000 LEAs have already provided the requisite guarantee that its programs and services are, and will be, in compliance with Title VI and its implementing regulation.” Cal. Dept. of Education Letter (April 11, 2025). Thurmond also notes that the federal “request for certification” fails to define what it means by “illegal DEI” and that “there are no federal or State laws prohibiting diversity, equity, or inclusion.” Id.

Marin County School Superintendent John Carroll reports Marin’s K-12 public schools risk losing as much as $39 million in federal funding this year due to the Trump administration’s anti-DEI demands.  Federal Funding Summary Charts, (July 31, 2025).

What’s Next?

As of this writing, the federal government had not responded to Superintendent Thurmond’s letter, but it seems safe to assume that the aggressive anti-DEI strategy will continue. Below are just two of the ways in which we believe the Trump administration’s approach to civil rights laws, and its intrusions into public school curriculum, are inconsistent with the well-established powers and responsibilities of the federal government in the educational setting.

1. Federal Duty to Enforce Civil Rights Laws

The federal government (through the Department of Education) is responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination provisions of federal civil rights laws.  Those laws were enacted to prevent discrimination against historically and persistently marginalized groups; not, as the Trump administration would have it, to entrench White majoritarian interests.  ABA, Preserving the Integrity of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The policies and practices of diversity, equity, and inclusion have evolved as tested best practices in the civil rights arena that—as the terms themselves indicate—do not elevate any group or individual above any other.  PBS, History of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Trump’s attacks on DEI, and on the rights of Black, Brown, LGBTQ, and immigrant students directly contravene the federal government’s legal obligations to uphold and enforce our civil rights laws and protect marginalized students from unlawful discrimination.

1. No Federal Authority Over Educational Content

President Trump has said, “We’re going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs” NPR (June 2, 2025) He is right in one respect: the federal government is not supposed to dictate educational content for our public schools.

While the federal government provides funding to support education at the state and local levels, this support cannot be conditioned on state educational agencies, local educational agencies, or schools adopting specific curricula or instructional programs. Congressional Research Service, General Education Provisions Act (Mar. 18, 2010), p. 22.

Yet controlling curricula and instructional programs is precisely what Trump’s anti-DEI agenda aims to accomplish: compelling and banning specific themes, words and phrases to align all K-12 classroom instruction with MAGA ideological tenets. There is no place in U.S. public schools for ideological indoctrination by the federal government, nor from any source. Our public schools are meant to educate “an informed citizenry capable of self-governance.” NCAC, First Amendment in Schools. They do so by presenting diverse experiences and perspectives, by supporting freedom of thought and speech, and by creating a mutually respectful learning environment. Id.

MVFREE will continue to closely follow the actions of the Trump administration and its adherents on our local school boards and keep you informed of opportunities for advocacy and action.

[1] These are the same extortionist tactics the administration is employing against prominent U.S. universities: freezing billions of dollars in federal research grants under the guise of addressing antisemitism but conditioning the release of funds on the universities’ willingness to eliminate DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs, services, and curriculum. See Inside Higher Ed (Aug. 28, 2025); CAP, Public Education Under Threat (Aug. 27, 2025).