Dallas school officials are striking DEI goals from district language, according to online records.
A document regulating employment practices was amended May 2 to remove a section on recruitment and retention through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The eliminated language explained the district’s “commitment to recruit and assign staff representatives of all racial and ethnic groups.”
It laid out goals that included ensuring the district had a culturally diverse staff, honored native cultures and languages, as well as fostered a climate “in which employees accept the diversity of all District employees.”
In addition, a senior district official’s title was changed to eliminate a reference to racial equity work. The district’s webpage for its Racial Equity Office now leads to an error message. That site had published metrics tracking DISD’s progress in providing academic opportunities to Black students and children learning English, among other benchmarks.
“Dallas ISD is, and will always remain, committed to closing achievement gaps and ensuring that students who need additional instruction and resources receive that,” trustee president Joe Carreón said.
The school board did not vote on the change. DISD s made the decisions in the wake of recent orders by President Donald Trump and momentum in the Texas Legislature to “ban DEI” in public schools.
DISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said she believes the district can both be in compliance with federal law and continue its equity work, which she added is conducted legally.
“Truthfully, all I’m doing is I’m using synonyms for the same work because I also have to recognize that there are some words that people will misinterpret as things that are illegal,” she said. “The equity work is continuing. Not one piece of work that we’re doing has actually changed. … What we call it has changed.”
“I’m just not calling it a dozen. I’m calling it 12.”
The vast majority of DISD students are children of color. About 70% of students are Hispanic and roughly 20% are Black.
The district’s moves come as federal and state officials aim to cut DEI efforts in schools. The catchall acronym is a target of many Republican lawmakers, whose criticisms include that such practices come at the expense of white children.
As a condition for receiving federal money, the Trump istration in April ordered K-12 schools to certify they are ending any discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Federal officials have yet to strictly define what work is impermissible.
The directive is tied up in court after more than a dozen states sued.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are legal efforts that help students feel safe, ed and respected. The Trump istration’s threats to withhold critical education funding due to the use of these initiatives are not only unlawful, but harmful to our children, families, and schools,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said of the lawsuit.
A memo from the Trump istration states DEI programs “preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not.”
“Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes. Consequently, they deny students the ability to participate fully in the life of a school,” wrote Craig Trainor, acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.
Under Trump, the U.S. Department of Education — which the president wants dismantled — launched investigations into K-12 schools, including a probe opened last month in Chicago Public Schools over its Black Student Success Plan. Similar investigations are examining colleges, including the University of North Texas.
In Texas, Republican state leaders are in lockstep with the White House.
“Last session, we banned DEI in higher education and cut funding for any DEI positions. This session we will ban DEI in K-12 grades & cut funding,” Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on X earlier this year. “No taxpayer dollars will be used to fund DEI in our schools.”
State lawmakers on Tuesday debated Senate Bill 12, which would prohibit schools from implementing hiring practices that consider race and allowing “differential treatment of or providing special benefits” to people based on their race or ethnicity.
The wide-ranging bill also bars districts from providing lessons or programming about sexual orientation or gender identity.
It mandates schools discipline employees if they engage in DEI work.
Dallas ISD’s equity efforts have included programs to address longstanding disparities between racial groups. For example, the district instituted plans to address why Black students were overrepresented in discipline statistics while underrepresented in honors classes.
The district made progress in some areas, though officials previously acknowledged that more work must be done.
“We have never disenfranchised one group of students for the advancement of another,” Elizalde said. “We also recognize that there are student groups who are woefully underperforming, and that’s a result of access to resources and high-quality instructional materials and teachers.”
Education advocates are concerned about the way the Trump istration’s efforts, combined with bills in the Legislature, could impact this kind of work in Texas schools.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion policies are not about favoritism,” said Antonio Ingram, senior counsel with the Legal Defense Fund. “These policies are about remediation and mitigation of legacies of racial bias and discrimination, which still persist in Texas schools today.”
A recent survey from EdWeek Research Center found that roughly 5% of educators and school system leaders said their district’s emphasis on programs incorporating DEI stopped after Trump took office. Another 10% said the focus decreased.
The survey, which included 719 educator responses, was conducted from March 26 to April 22.
It found that the bigger the district was, the more likely educators were to say there was a decrease in DEI emphasis.
Dallas is Texas’ second-largest school district with roughly 140,000 students.
Targeting equity work in the state’s public schools comes shortly after Texas banned DEI programs at the university level. Since 2023, colleges have reviewed syllabi to eliminate words such as “race” or “equity,” paused scholarships and closed multicultural and LGBTQ campus centers.
Elizalde acknowledged other changes may be coming to the district in of how it talks about diversity and equity work. She said she’s instituted “a tighter system of checks and balances” on professional development programming.
She’s closely examining other initiatives that include equity goals, such as the highly touted Call Me MISTER program, which aims to bring male teachers from diverse backgrounds into the classroom.
“Have we gotten any communication that this program is at risk? No, we have not,” Elizalde said. “Am I internally reviewing things that I think we might get a call on? That someone may have questions on? Yes.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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