Akron Public Schools is moving forward with a “comprehensive review” of all diversity, equity and inclusion-related policies to ensure it doesn’t run afoul of a quickly changing and unclear federal legislative landscape.
The press release is the only communication the district has released publicly about potential DEI changes it will make following a directive from President Donald Trump’s administration. The release was broad in its scope but did not provide specifics about what adjustments students, families and staff members could expect in the coming weeks and months.
“We are taking a measured and strategic approach to this situation,” Superintendent Michael Robinson said. “Our focus is to ensure that all our students receive a high-quality education in a compliant and inclusive environment, working thoughtfully and transparently while minimizing disruptions.”
Neither Robinson nor APS Director of Communications Stacey Hodoh responded to a detailed list of questions from Signal Akron.
Some administrators in the district have been planning for changes to the federal public education landscape for the past couple years. Carla Chapman, the district’s chief diversity officer, told Signal Akron she’s been consulting within and outside of the district to redefine more broadly the words diversity, equity and inclusion.
If the district defines DEI more broadly as diversity of experience, perspective, culture or experience, Chapman said it is unclear if this would be sufficient enough to avoid running afoul of new federal guidance. It’s unclear, she said, but the work to ensure successful academic outcomes across various student populations will remain the district’s focus.
“It’s not going to change the work we do,” Chapman said.
She acknowledged that her job title will likely need to be changed, but that will have to follow a change in board policy. Currently, Board of Education policy mandates the district maintain a chief diversity, equity and inclusion administrator on staff.
“I want people to know that in Akron Public Schools, we’ve always talked about this work as comprehensive educational equity,” Chapman said.
The district said in its press release that it was “engaged with outside legal counsel specializing in education law” to better understand the federal guidance and “ensure our compliance strategy is robust.”
Beyond their comprehensive review, the district said it would be making “strategic adjustments” that may necessitate changes to programming while assessing board policies and programs.
“We are committed to minimizing disruption to our students and staff while ensuring we meet our legal obligations,” the press release states.
What does Trump’s federal guidance change in public education?
The Department of Education issued a sweeping four-page guidance letter Feb. 14 that said schools were “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline” through their DEI practices.
The guidance cites the 2023 Supreme Court decision Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard, which made preferences or policies aimed at targeting a specific racial demographic for admissions illegal. The Department of Education is broadly applying this decision across education to curb the consideration of race in all education policy decisions.
“If an educational institution treats a person of one race differently than it treats another person because of that person’s race, the educational institution violates the law,” the guidance reads.
The letter threatened the loss of federal funding for educational institutions, including K-12 and higher education, that do not change policies to comply with the new guidance.
“The Department intends to take appropriate measures to assess compliance with the applicable statutes and regulations based on the understanding embodied in this letter beginning no later than 14 days from today’s date, including antidiscrimination requirements that are a condition of receiving federal funding,” the letter states.
How much funding is at stake in Akron Public Schools?
In its press release, the district said it took in more than $73 million in federal funds in fiscal year 2023 and more than $85 million in fiscal year 2024. That money funds a bevy of programs like special education, early childhood education, school nutrition, English as a Second Language, driver’s education and after-school programs, among others.
One of the more important streams of federal funding received by public school districts are Title 1 funds, which schools with a high percentage of low-income and at-risk students receive to ensure students from less fortunate financial demographics have access to quality education.
The district is expected to bring in about $365 million in revenue this fiscal year, which includes $13 million from the recently passed operating levy, so federal funds could make up about 24% of the district’s total budget.
Beyond potentially running into federal funding cuts, the district is contending with changes that may come at the state level. Ohio legislators have floated the idea of cutting public school funding. Gov. Mike DeWine’s proposed bi-annual budget, which has yet to be passed by the state legislature, pledged more than $23 billion in funding for public schools.
“The first thing I’ve learned is not to anticipate,” board member Barbara Sykes said about the state budget. “We have to wait and see what the actual numbers are.”
Sykes said that while DeWine’s budget appears to fulfill the state’s public education funding plan, it doesn’t include the most current math — critics raised concerns that the salary and other financial inputs are from 2022 — to determine the base cost for operating a school district.
Without the most current math, she said the state will effectively be reducing its public school funding.
An analysis of the budget by the Legislative Service Commission found that public schools will actually get $16 billion under DeWine’s proposal, with many districts getting less state money, according to a report by the Statehouse News Bureau.
“Our biggest challenge remains what reductions (if any) will be made to the Fair School Funding Plan,” APS Treasurer Steve Thompson said in the press release. “We will likely not know that until May or June.”
