DEI buzzwords trigger huge cuts in STEM ed research

DOGE's cuts in federal funding for science and math education research -- $ 773 million -- have been devastating, writes Jill Barshay on the Hechinger Report. The cuts to grants and mass firings at the National Science Foundation (NSF), which supports research and education in science, engineering and math, have left the agency in chaos. "A division focused on equity in education was eliminated and all its employees were fired," she writes. Administrators were stripped of their powers, leaving it unclear who will review and approve on future research grants.

Elon Musk and his chainsaw

DOGE claims the cuts saved taxpayers millions in “wasteful DEI” spending, writes Fordham's Meredith Coffey. But it looks like an algorithm gone wild with no human oversight.

Looking at the database of terminated grants, Coffey saw some that were DEI-centric. Multiple grants for “anti-bias mathematics teaching” were canceled, as was Villanova's “Social Justice STEM Pedagogies framework” for Grades 7–12. Florida International University lost funding to train high school physics teachers in “inclusive and equitable practices,” “communal classroom cultures,” and “physics identity development for women and MRE [minoritized racial/ethnic groups].”

But other projects apparently lost funding because an eager grant writer decided to add a DEI phrase or goal to make an otherwise neutral project fundable. Buzzwords became poison pills.

RAND's plan to pilot materials and training to expand access to computer science for prekindergartners was defunded, writes Coffey. The proposal said it was partly aimed to boost “participation among… underrepresented groups in STEM.”

Vanderbilt's new AI education program for elementary schoolers in rural areas mentioned “culturally relevant instructional methods.” That money is gone.

WestEd lost funding for its collaboration with Milwaukee high schools and a local technical college to develop dual enrollment math courses, she notes. That doesn't sound DEI-ish or wasteful at all. But the proposal mentioned that the advanced math was "a lever for equity." Doom.

The Education Department should "be able to recognize the difference between a project with DEI at its center and a project description that happens to include a few buzzwords," Coffey writes.

The federal courts will consider legal challenges to the cuts, some of which affect congressionally mandated programs.