This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
A federal judge has ordered an emergency hearing on a request by New Hampshire’s largest teachers’ union to block the Trump administration from forcing every school district to attest they are following anti-discrimination laws.
The federal Department of Education implemented the directive across the country last week and gave every state 10 days to comply. The New Hampshire Department of Education responded by ordering each district in the state to submit a certification form by Thursday.
In a letter sent to state education departments on April 3, the Trump administration threatened that any school district that fails to comply with the requirement would risk losing federal funding. New Hampshire received $336 million from the federal government last school year, which accounts for roughly 8% of all spending on public education statewide.
The Trump administration’s certification requirement serves as an escalation of its attempt to root out diversity, equity, and inclusion programming at the K-12 public school level. Last week’s directive follows a February threat that federal funding would be stripped from institutions that teach about topics such as systemic or structural racism.
The requirement calls on every school district to certify that they comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of “race, color, or national origin.” Schools must also attest they follow the Supreme Court’s ruling in SFFA v. Harvard, which struck down the use of race-based affirmative action in higher education admissions.
In its filing, the National Education Association is arguing that the certification requirement “chills basic educator practices” and infringes upon union members’ constitutional rights. The union, which represents 17,000 members in the state, is asking federal Judge Landya McCafferty to block the certification requirement prior to the Thursday deadline.
Lawyers for the union criticized the directive as “vague and viewpoint discriminatory.” Previously, they argued that the federal Department of Education was misinterpreting the Supreme Court’s holding in the Harvard case.
The motion was filed as part of the teachers’ union’s case challenging the initial DEI ban.
McCafferty has scheduled a court hearing on the motion for Wednesday at 2 p.m.
In ordering districts to comply with the requirement, New Hampshire has taken a different approach than some other states. New York, for example, responded that “no further certification will be forthcoming” because its department had already previously communicated it would comply with the anti-discrimination law.
A spokesperson from the New Hampshire Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its approach.
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