{"id":53,"date":"2026-05-20T19:39:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53"},"modified":"2026-05-20T19:39:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:39:52","slug":"the-trump-education-department-slashed-dei-spending-tens-of-millions-still-went-to-equity-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53","title":{"rendered":"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration has discontinued hundreds of millions in DEI-related education spending, but a new watchdog report alleges that the Department of Education still spent more than $60 million to advance \u201cequity\u201d in fiscal year 2025.<\/p>\n

Read more Massie Ousted by Trump-Backed Challenger in Kentucky Primary<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite President Trump\u2019s executive orders \u2014 such as \u201cEnding Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing\u201d and \u201cEnding Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity\u201d \u2014 the administration continues to fund DEI-themed projects through the Department of Education, according to a report by Open the Books, an advocacy group that promotes government transparency. Under President Trump, the Education Department awarded over $3.5 million to Northern Arizona University for the \u201cArizona Gear Up 2019-26: The Five E\u2019s of Equity\u201d program, and more than $100,000 to San Diego State University Foundation for \u201cProject Oceanside: Optimizing The Capacity Of Special Educators For Inclusion Diversity, And Equity,\u201d among other grants with similar DEI-related titles.<\/p>\n

The department emphasized to National Review<\/span> that it has reviewed grants for legal compliance and diverted funds away from those involving illegal discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump Administration is no longer allowing taxpayer dollars to go out the door on autopilot \u2014 we are evaluating every federal grant to ensure they are in line with the Administration\u2019s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education,\u201d said Press Secretary for Higher Education Ellen Keast. \u201cLast year, ED reviewed over six thousand grants to evaluate if they were operationalizing unlawful DEI into educational programming \u2014 and moved almost $3 billion of funds away from those projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

A person familiar with the matter told National Review<\/span> that some currently funded projects are misleadingly titled and include words such as \u201cequity,\u201d but the activities supported through the grants have been reviewed and \u201cwere not impermissible and did not operationalize illegal DEI policies.\u201d The person also said that, in some instances, the Education Department has revised grant conditions to add compliance language regarding federal civil rights laws or has required recipients to adjust the project.<\/p>\n

The \u2014 which examines fiscal years 2017 through 2025, with a focus on 2021 through 2025 \u2014 does identify a significant decrease in grant transactions that contained the key words \u201cequity\u201d or \u201csocial justice\u201d since President Biden left office. Nearly $700 million has been spent on grants with DEI-related terminology since 2021, although such projects received only $62 million in funds in 2025. At least $40 million has been spent per year through DEI-related grants since 2017. Funding for DEI-labeled grants peaked in 2021, amounting to more than $160 million that year alone. The state given the most funding through the Department of Education\u2019s DEI-themed grants from 2017 through 2025 was California, which received more than $150 million. It is followed by Indiana, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Arizona, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Connecticut, and Ohio.<\/p>\n

Nearly half a million dollars was awarded to Ohio State University in 2022 for an initiative that aimed to add \u201cat least 50 tenure-track faculty members whose research can help to address racial and social disparities.\u201d More than $3 million was given to Framingham State University from 2022 through 2024 for the \u201cRemixing Textbooks Through an Equity-Focused Lens\u201d project, which has published open-source textbooks such as \u2018Overweight\u2019 Bodies, Real and Imagined<\/em>. And almost $1 million was given to California State University for \u201cpandemic recovery with equity\u201d from 2022 through 2023.<\/p>\n

Research abroad by American students that received financial support under the Biden administration included \u201cQueering Genre \u2014 Transgressing Sonic Boundaries in Anime Music,\u201d \u201cDeconstructing the Warrior-Female Guerrilla Fighters Within the Colombian Conflict,\u201d and \u201cInterrupting Gender and Intersectional Microaggressions to Counter Gender-Based Violence at U. of the Witwatersrand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Education also slashed spending within weeks of Trump\u2019s second inauguration. It cut $600 million in grants that were designed to \u201ctrain teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies,\u201d in the words of the department. The training materials included topics like \u201csocial justice activism\u201d and often described recruiting strategies focused on race.<\/p>\n

Read more Democratic Socialist Chris Rabb Wins Primary in Deep-Blue Pennsylvania District<\/a><\/p>\n

New spending on education under the second Trump administration includes a focus on civics education and the Semiquincentennial, such as the \u201cAmerican History and Seminars Discretionary Grant Program\u201d and the \u201cThe America 250 Civics Education Coalition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open the Book\u2019s report also tracks the department\u2019s overall spending and employment figures.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration\u2019s Department of Education spent roughly $560 million on salaries per year for 4,245 employees. In fiscal year 2025, just under $392 million was spent on 2,670 staff members \u2014 roughly a 30 percent decrease in spending and 36 percent decrease in staff.<\/p>\n

The department has awarded more than one trillion dollars in grants since fiscal year 2017. Roughly $75 billion was spent in grants and other forms of financial assistance from 2017 through 2019, but those figures skyrocketed to $107 billion in 2020 and $310 billion in 2021 because of Covid-era relief plans.<\/p>\n

However, the report found an increase in overall spending from 2024 to 2025: New Pell Grant spending was worked into the FAFSA Simplification Act of 2021, raising the department\u2019s annual spending from $92 billion to $96 billion.<\/p>\n

Upwards of $75.2 billion was spent through the \u201cHigher Education Emergency Relief\u201d program during the pandemic \u2014 but 16 of the top-20 richest colleges received funds. The University of Pennsylvania received more than $40 billion through the \u201cemergency relief\u201d program, despite having an endowment of at least $18 billion in 2021. Other institutions that received \u201cemergency\u201d funds include Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia, Duke, the University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, and Cornell.<\/p>\n

From 2017 through 2025, the Department of Education spent around $2.5 billion a year on contracts, about half of which are related to student-loan-servicing.<\/p>\n

Read more Separating Wildfire Fact from Fiction After the L.A. Mayoral Debate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A watchdog report says the Trump Education Department cut billions in DEI spending but still directed more than $60 million to \u201cequity\u201d-themed grants in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025 - American Housing Transition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025 - American Housing Transition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A watchdog report says the Trump Education Department cut billions in DEI spending but still directed more than $60 million to \u201cequity\u201d-themed grants in 2025.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Housing Transition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T19:39:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2057\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff\"},\"headline\":\"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T19:39:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53\"},\"wordCount\":919,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53\",\"name\":\"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025 - American Housing Transition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-20T19:39:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp\",\"width\":2057,\"height\":1200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?p=53#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Housing Transition\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanhousingtransition.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025 - American Housing Transition","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025 - American Housing Transition","og_description":"A watchdog report says the Trump Education Department cut billions in DEI spending but still directed more than $60 million to \u201cequity\u201d-themed grants in 2025.","og_url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53","og_site_name":"American Housing Transition","article_published_time":"2026-05-20T19:39:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2057,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff"},"headline":"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025","datePublished":"2026-05-20T19:39:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53"},"wordCount":919,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp","articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53","url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53","name":"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025 - American Housing Transition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-20T19:39:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7f046aa772d0cb523bcff2a16c8998a7.webp","width":2057,"height":1200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=53#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Trump Education Department Slashed DEI Spending \u2014 Tens of Millions Still Went to \u2018Equity\u2019 in 2025"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/","name":"American Housing Transition","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ccdc45e963ff9df1519ca04968801ff","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com"],"url":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}