HijackED

How Federal Funds for Poor Students Are Paying For DEI

Executive Summary

Over the last few years, 61 school districts have spent $19,827,938.90 in federal funding to contract with organizations and consultants for far-left programming.

Funds granted under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and its reauthorization via the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), have been used to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), equitable grading practices, race and sex-based programming, restorative practices/restorative justice (RP/RJ), social emotional learning (SEL), and other far-left ideologies.

For example, Elk Grove Unified School District (CA) used Title I funds to pay an organization over $4 million to facilitate programming for “young men of color.” Hayward Unified School District (CA) used Title funding to pay a consultant for equitable grading professional development. This same district also paid highly controversial consultant, Woke Kindergarten, $200,000 using Title I funds. Additionally, multiple districts paid out over $2 million to Panorama Education for its Social Emotional Learning survey platform.

This report is intended to serve as a snapshot of how districts have used these federal funds to promote and implement DEI, SEL, and other concerning (and ideological) practices in K-12 school districts. Unfortunately, many school districts do not make it publicly known which funds it draws from to pay for these programs—tracking down itemized funds usage was quite difficult and leads us to believe that the numbers in this report provide an underestimate of what has been spent.

Included below are explainers of the different types of funds covered int his report, as well as brief key takeaways and a list of the districts’ expenditures.

This is not a comprehensive report and will be updated over time.

Key Takeaways

• Panorama Education was paid $2,427,721.70 by 17 school districts for its Social Emotional Learning survey platform.
• Elk Grove Unified School District (CA) paid Improve Your Tomorrow, Inc. $4,477,410 in Title I funds to facilitate programming for “young men of color.”
• Hayward Unified School District (CA) paid the Crescendo Education Group $110,000 for consultation on implementing Grading for Equity programming. It also paid the controversial consultant organization Woke Kindergarten $200,000 to work with one elementary school.
• Los Angeles Unified School District (CA) states that it budgeted $16 million for Social Emotional Learning programming in the 2024-25 school year, $3,000,000 of which is pulled from Title I funding.
• Jefferson Union High School District (CA) paid the Crescendo Education Group $299,400 in Title I funds for consultation and professional development related to the organization’s Grading for Equity programming.
• Township High School District 211 (IL) used $55,000 in Title II funds to pay the organization Courageous Conversations (formerly Pacific Education Group) for professional development rooted in Critical Race Theory.
• Indianapolis Public Schools (IN) used $680,000 of Title II funding on a racial equity consultant.
• Howard County Public School System (MD) spent $149,021 of Title II funds on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programming. It spent another $108,000 in Title II funds on equity professional development and implementation.

Types of Funds

The following is a list of the different types of funds granted to districts under ESEA/ ESSA grant program. Some districts label expenses with the broad category of School Improvement Grants, which serves as an umbrella term for Title I, Part A, Title II, Part A, and Title IV, Part A grants.

Districts