The 2025 Texas Legislative Session has been underway for a week in Austin, with plenty on their to-do list from Governor Greg Abbott. There is plenty of legislation regarding border security, and above all else, there is the push for school choice, which has been a priority of his for a few years. But there is another push he is supporting now.
Last session, lawmakers passed a statewide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ban that applied to all public universities. In essence, is bans the teaching of DEI, departments that focus on DEI, and any administrative staff that push DEI initiatives. Now, the Governor wants to take that blanket, and have it cover all state schools, from kindergarten through high school.
In a post on X, Abbott said recently 'no taxpayer dollars will be used to fund DEI in our schools...they must focus on fundamentals of education, not indoctrination.' Education expert Sherry Sylvester says the momentum is with Gov. Abbott, especially after President Trump's sweeping DEI executive actions this week.
"They are divisive...these programs have not worked, they are a big grift...and it is time for the state to get rid of them," she says.
From their inception, these programs have done nothing but push division and essentially support a full-blown regression to the days of segregation. They have promoted the ideology that everything is white people's fault and established a clear racist mandate. All from a side that complains that Trump is a racist and fascist for protecting American borders.
There could be some movement on Gov. Abbotts wish list this session, with Chairman of the Education Committee State Senator Brandon Creighton supporting the idea. It would help protect kids at school, but also, would help bring relief to tight budgets.
"They are part of the administrative bloat we have...you have DEI programs, you have administrators, you have DEI officers," she says. "You have a whole new level of administration...so it is costly, as well as infective."
Many public universities, like Texas and Texas A&M, have both found ways to skirt around the law, but even those days are coming to an end. Texas A&M recently announced they are doing away with tons of DEI-related courses and positions.
But this is not about politics at the end of the day. This is not something Republicans want to do to 'hurt people of color' or 'promote white supremacy.' It is what citizen's of the state want, across all aisles.
"People are fed up. There was a recent poll...70 percent of Texans, including Democrats, Republicans, black Texans, and Hispanic Texans, do not want these programs in our public schools," says Sylvester.
The Texas Legislative Session runs through June 2nd.
Photo: Getty Images North America