The Biden administration’s Department of Education has faced growing criticism for the enormous amount spent on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in schools across the country. A new report from Parents Defending Education reveals that more than $1 billion in DEI grants have been distributed nationwide since 2021. Included in the report are grants that affect schools in 25 states that voted for Donald Trump in 2024.

It turns out that radical woke ideology is not just a problem in blue states.

This federal spending spree has caught the attention of state government leaders in red states, specifically Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who denounced the Biden administration for using taxpayer money to “shove DEI down the throats of Oklahomans.”

DEI has been shoved down the throats in many conservative red states through these Department of Education grants. Consider three prominent examples from PDE’s “GrantED” report, which shows federally funded DEI initiatives in Iowa, Missouri, and South Carolina, all of which have received $89,440,558 total in grants aimed at embedding far-Left ideologies into K-12 classrooms.

First, the University of Iowa, situated in a state that voted decisively Republican in the last presidential election, received a grant award of $1,261,718. The funding is designed to train 40 elementary teachers to “enact equity-centered education” in K-12 partner districts. What has “equity-centered education” looked like in recent years? A lower threshold for academic excellence and overall lower test scores for all students, more lenient discipline policies that have resulted in increasingly disruptive learning environments, and the implementation of race-based groups in schools that include or exclude students and teachers based on the color of their skin.

Missouri offers another telling example. The University of Missouri–St. Louis was awarded a $306,209 grant to train school counselors in Trauma-Informed, Antiracist Social-Emotional Learning. Antiracism sounds well-intentioned, but the author of the literal book on Antiracism, Ibram X. Kendi, describes antiracism saying, “the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.” As for Social Emotional Learning (SEL), another well-meaning term, in 2020, SEL was rebranded to “Transformative SEL,” embedding race and gender ideology into what had previously been neutral student competencies.

Perhaps the most striking instance comes from Laurens County School District 55 in South Carolina, which received a staggering $13.6 million over three years. The grant’s stated goal is “to create schools where equity, diversity, and inclusion are embedded in the school culture.” Equity was mentioned earlier, but “inclusion” can include far-Left views of gender which manifests itself in schools in ways such as punishing students who “misgender” other students or allowing students to use the restroom that matches their “gender identity.” Reminder: Laurens County, SC voted almost 70% for Donald Trump in 2024.

At Parents Defending Education, we often read comments on social media like, “Thank goodness I live in Florida!” or “Move out of California!” However, DEI funding receipts from the last 4 years of the Biden administration show that geographical location does not shield children from exposure to far-Left ideologies in their schools. Ideological activists are determined to push their propaganda beyond blue-state lines.

Parents must remain vigilant in examining their child’s coursework, attending school board meetings, and maintaining regular communication with their child’s teacher — not only to identify potential bias in education but also to prevent it. DEI has been exposed as a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not help students, but hurts them. Families should not hesitate to speak up and work to stop this dangerous programming in their children’s schools, even if they live in a red state.

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Paul Runko is a Digital Communications Specialist for Parents Defending Education. Based in Charleston, South Carolina, he is also a proud father of two.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Biden Admin Blew Over $1 Billion On DEI In Red States