The Trump administration said Tuesday it has canceled nine grants funding college mentors at more than 200 public schools in the U.S., representing almost $170 million in funding, because of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at those schools.
The federal GEAR Up funding was used to provide counselors and other programming to help students with plans for college and careers after high school. GEAR Up is an acronym standing for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, a program started in 1998 under former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
The majority of the GEAR Up grants are continuing, the U.S. Department of Education said in a statement. Deputy Press Director Ellen Keast said "the Trump Administration is no longer allowing taxpayer dollars to go out the door on autopilot."
"Many of the non-continued grants use overt race preferences or perpetuate divisive concepts and stereotypes, which no student should be exposed to," Keast said. "The non-continued grant funds are not being cut; they are being re-invested immediately into high quality programs that better serve aspiring and current college students.”
Alex Chough, president of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships, which represents GEAR Up programs across the country, said the nine canceled grants account for about $30 million this school year, and another $138 million over the rest of the grant cycles. The grants served 220 individual K-12 schools nationwide; four of the nine canceled grants total were in Ohio.
In its statement, the Department of Education listed several reasons why the grants were canceled at schools, all revolving around diversity, equity and inclusion, using information pulled from schools' applications:
- One grantee “focused on hiring from traditionally underrepresented groups based on race, color, national origin, gender, age, and disability."
- One grantee advocated for and implemented programming that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion within educational institutions at middle, high, and postsecondary levels of education.
- Multiple grantees required staff to participate in a racial equity training to learn more about “implicit bias” and “social justice," the statement reads. The grantees also offered technical assistance and professional development on issues related to illegal DEI.
- One grantee coordinated with a school district’s DEI Office to develop awareness relative to the question, “what does race, class, gender, and ability mean in my life?”
That last statement was included in Akron Public School's initial application for the grant in 2021. The school district received the notice its grant was canceled on Sept. 12, just before beginning the fifth year of a seven-year cycle.
What's the impact, and what's next?
Akron Public Schools officials said Monday the district has appealed the decision. It noted in the appeal that since the 2021 application, it has shuddered its diversity, equity and inclusion department and repealed its equity policies to comply with the Trump administration's anti-DEI directives.
"The societal cost of ending this program is profound," the appeal reads. "Without these supports, more students will fail to graduate, attend college, or secure stable employment."
If the appeal is unsuccessful, Superintendent Mary Outley said the district would lose mentors for 1,500 students and seven full-and part-time employees as of Oct. 1, when the funding runs out.
"They're the first in their families who even considered college," Outley said of the students in the program, many of them sophomores and juniors. "They began this program when they were in sixth grade and are now at a crucial point, when they are ready to access things for which they are preparing for, the support will no longer be available."
Project GRAD Akron is the nonprofit that partners with the district to provide college and career readiness resources supported by the grant. Wynter Mason, a college and career advisor with Project GRAD, works with students at North High School.
"Getting them prepared for understanding college applications, having FAFSA (application) ready," Mason said, listing her duties. "Also making sure if they're doing job applications, we are making sure they are in the right path to do a resume writing, a cover letter, understanding how to write a professional email."
She says her job is more than that, though.
"A lot of children and students have a hard time finding a trusted individual and a trusted adult and an educator to go to to express how they're feeling. A lot times they feel unheard," she said. "...I am that person to a lot of students."
Mason's job could be cut if the district's appeal is unsuccessful.
The district shared a video with students from Akron's North High School speaking out in favor of the GEAR Up program. They spoke about the benefits of mentorship from counselors and from participating in clubs and groups supported by the grant.
"It teaches you to be a person, not only school, but about you being a person in general," one student said. "And that's what I think will help me the most in my college because education is important, but you have to learn how to be person overall to even go forward in that."
The U.S. Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment on which schools had their grants canceled. In Ohio, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, the Educational Services Center of Cuyahoga County, and the Ohio Department of Higher Education all had their grants canceled. Schools in New Hampshire, Indiana, New York, California and North Carolina have also been affected by the grant cancellation.
