Horne, Boggs Respond to DOE’s Anti-DEI Initiative

On February 18, 2025, the Arizona Globe reported on AZ Senate President Warren Petersen’s deadline for state compliance with the U.S. Department of Education’s mandate to end DEI. In that article, we indicated that we had requested but not received input from Maricopa County Superintendent Shelli Boggs or State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. Specifically, the Globe asked each of them to share the guidance issued to state entities on implementing the Federal DEI order, colloquially known as a “Dear Colleague” letter. Since breaking that story, the Globe has received input from both.

Boggs issued guidance to Maricopa County’s K-12 schools, which expressly emphasizes “academic excellence and equal opportunity” while ensuring compliance with federal requirements outlawing race-based policies in education. Boggs provided the Globe with a copy of the letter she sent.

Under her new directive, all K-12 schools in Maricopa County must:

• Review and revise hiring, admissions, and training policies to ensure decisions are based strictly on merit and qualifications.
• Eliminate race-based or ideological training from curriculum and professional development requirements.
• Prioritize core academic subjects such as reading, writing, mathematics, and science to better prepare students for success.

Boggs noted that while the Maricopa County School Superintendent’s Office does not have the authority to enforce federal mandates, non-compliance could impact the state’s federal education funding and may result in legal challenges.

The guidance letter included, “We encourage all districts to review their policies carefully to ensure adherence to federal law.” Her office has also offered support during the compliance transition, urging administrators to reach out to her office for further assistance or clarity.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Statement on Superintendent Boggs’ Letter to Schools on DEI Compliance

Statement⤵️ pic.twitter.com/wpVjnocnzR

— Maricopa County School Superintendent Shelli Boggs (@mcschoolsup) February 19, 2025

“I am glad the world is catching up to me,” Horne advised in an official statement referencing his 2007 opposition to the Tucson district’s Ethnic Studies program. Then, he criticized Tucson schools for “racial discrimination using Critical Race Theory.” Horne contends that DEI and Critical Race Theory (CRT) have fostered “discriminatory practices and attitudes among our school children,” which he deems “unacceptable.”

However, Horne has not issued any sort of “guidance” for the new DEI rules – at least publicly.

Instead, Horne calls attention to his record of implementing a truly non-discriminatory ideology. Since assuming office in 2023, Horne has mandated that recipients of grants and contracts from the Arizona Department of Education affirm they do not implement DEI programs. Additionally, he requires public schools to declare on their report cards whether they “respect all students as individuals,” avoiding concepts like CRT and protecting instructional time from “excessive distractions labeled as Social Emotional Learning.”

In his recent State of Education address, Horne contrasted his belief in “the American tradition of individual merit” with those advocating for “racial entitlements.” He warned that focusing on such entitlements undermines qualities like “hard work, conscientiousness, or creativity.” He cautioned, “If our country adopts that philosophy, we will become a mediocre third-world nation.”

Horne expressed gratitude for the federal government’s commitment to addressing what he describes as a “discriminatory phenomenon,” aligning with his long-standing efforts to eliminate DEI and CRT from Arizona’s educational system.

BACKGROUND INFO:

The recent “Dear Colleague” letter from the Department of Education emphasizes that any form of racial preference in areas such as admissions, financial aid, hiring, and other institutional activities is illegal.

The letter, issued on February 14, 2025, by the Office for Civil Rights, asserts that many American educational institutions have engaged in “pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination,” adversely affecting students, including those who are white and Asian. It criticizes practices where schools “routinely use race as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training, and other institutional programming.” The Department further condemns the promotion of racial segregation, noting that some institutions “even encourage segregation by race at graduation ceremonies and in dormitories and other facilities.”

The directive is grounded in the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which declared using racial preferences in college admissions unlawful. The Department’s letter extends this ruling, stating that if an educational institution “treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race,” it violates federal law. This interpretation applies broadly to all aspects of student and campus life, including “admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects.”

The Department also addresses DEI programs, asserting that such initiatives often “preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not.” It warns that even facially neutral programs may be discriminatory if “motivated by racial considerations.” For instance, schools are cautioned against using “students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars, or other cues” as proxies to determine or predict a student’s race for preferential treatment.

The Globe will continue monitoring Arizona’s compliance as the February 28, 2025, federally mandated deadline looms closer.