In a major rebuke of the Trump administration’s education policy, a New Hampshire District Court judge federal ruled this week that the federal government overstepped its authority in threatening to cut funding to public schools that participate in certain (DEI) diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty issued the ruling Thursday, siding with the National Education Association (NEA) and the Center for Black Educator Development. The plaintiffs had challenged a February directive from the Department of Education that warned schools to abandon DEI programs deemed to violate the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—or risk losing billions in Title I funds targeted at low-income students.
“Ours is a nation ‘deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned,’” McCafferty wrote in the court order. “Indeed, ‘the nation’s future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure to a robust exchange of ideas which discovers truth out of a multitude of tongues, rather than through any kind of authoritative selection. …And ‘the right to speak freely and promote diversity of ideas and programs… is one of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes.”
While the ruling is not nationwide in scope, it protects public schools affiliated with the plaintiffs from funding cuts related to their DEI efforts.
The case stems from a sweeping letter sent earlier this year by Education Secretary Linda McMahon, which accused U.S. public schools of supporting “pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences.” The department claimed these practices contradicted federal civil rights laws and demanded compliance to avoid funding penalties.
McCafferty questioned the practical implications of the administration’s approach. “Would the Department conclude that a history teacher leading a class discussion on the economic development of the antebellum south has violated Title VI?” she wrote. “These are not hypotheticals. School teachers throughout the country are asking themselves these and similar questions in the wake of the 2025 Letter.”
NEA President Becky Pringle welcomed the decision, saying, “Today’s ruling allows educators and schools to continue to be guided by what’s best for students, not by the threat of illegal restrictions and punishment.”
