Whether working directly in DEI or just participating in introducing DEI services, 303 school districts paid over $123 million in taxpayer-funded contracts to people or companies that integrate DEI into things they offered to districts and educators. These findings span back for the past decade.
There are 41 consultants in total, ranging from organizations to individuals, and they reach approximately over six million students collectively from all districts that participated in paying for these services.
Erika Sanzi is the Director of Outreach for Defending Education.
"We looked at consultants working in K-12 schools that either work directly in DEI, so that their actual products and services are related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or have made public statements about their commitment to integrating DEI into all of their products and services," says Sanzi. "So, it's not that these are all DEI consultants, it's that they are all third-party entities and/or vendors who either work with DEI or made promises to make it a big part of what they do."
Meanwhile, it was not just in blue states. Defending Education found this occurring in as many as 40 states. No matter where it happens, Sanzi says it's wrong.
"That's public money," says Sanzi. "We know that, in many cases, everything related to this - let's just call it loosely the DEI social justice sort of gender ideology all of that stuff - not only is it totally biased, but it only allows for only one viewpoint, and schools are supposed to be about the free exchange of ideas."
The report from Defending Education comes after yet another national report card showing students around the country are testing poorly in reading and math. Based on the research from Defending Education, Sanzi is not surprised.
"As the expenditure on all of this garbage goes up, student outcomes go down, and this report looked as far back as 2017 up to the present," says Sanzi.
