Education Agency Will Respond to Trump's Anti-DEI Order

Updated on April 8, 2025.

The Vermont Agency of Education said on Monday it would send a “single, statewide letter” in response to a federal directive about diversity, equity and inclusion programs, just days after the agency directed each local superintendent to sign a form indicating they would comply with the order.

Monday evening’s about-face came after backlash to Education Secretary Zoie Saunders’ initial message, which she sent on Friday. In it, she told Vermont superintendents to sign a form affirming compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars any program or activity receiving federal funds from discriminating based on race. The Trump administration has said so-called DEI programs potentially advantage one race over another and therefore may violate the Civil Rights Act.

If states do not certify they are in compliance by next Monday, April 14, the Trump administration has said they are at risk of losing federal funding — which amounts to around $116 million to Vermont public schools each year.

Saunders’ message on Friday encouraged districts to use their own legal counsel to review the form, then sign and return it to the agency.

The request drew criticism from local education leaders, including the president of the Vermont-NEA teachers’ union, who characterized it as a capitulation to the Trump administration.

That pushback prompted Saunders and Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark to issue a joint statement on Monday afternoon. They attempted to reassure the public of their steadfast commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion practices in Vermont schools. The statement said Trump’s executive orders that characterize diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as discriminatory are not legally binding and are designed to create outrage, confusion and self-censorship to which the state would not succumb.
“Nothing about this directive requires a change to our diversity, equity and inclusion practices, and we’re not going to change,” Saunders said in the statement. “It is critical to be calm, confident, and clear eyed about the difference between lawful education initiatives and political rhetoric.”

Clark said her office would “continue to protect Vermonters against any unlawful actions by the federal government.” She noted that Vermont law offers strong protections for students, employees and the public, and that “a change in administration in Washington doesn’t change Vermont’s sovereign right to educate its children consistent with the laws.”

By about 5 p.m. on Monday, Saunders sent another email directly to superintendents, saying, “in no way, did the AOE direct schools to ban DEI.” She wrote that her agency had “received feedback throughout the day regarding the need for clarity on the intent of the certification and the state’s specific response.”

Instead of asking every superintendent to sign a certification form, Saunders said, the agency, in consultation with the AG’s Office, had decided to send a letter to the U.S. Department of Education that would “certify Vermont’s compliance with applicable current law” and “reject conditions or assurances that are not supported by current law.” She said the agency would hold office hours for administrators on Tuesday and Wednesday “to review our statewide position” and answer questions.

The message was a stark contrast from Saunders’ original one, which was included in a weekly memo to superintendents that went out on Friday evening. It gave school districts until the end of the day on Thursday to return a signed certification form acknowledging that their entitlement to federal funds was contingent upon complying with the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title VI, as well as a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned affirmative action in the college admissions process.

According to an explanation provided on the federal certification form, if schools use “illegal DEI practices” — which were not defined — they may be subject to “serious consequences,” including the loss of federal funds, litigation or financial penalties.

In its Friday email to superintendents, the Vermont Agency of Education wrote that, based on its initial legal review, the federal form was simply asking states to “reaffirm” their compliance with “existing law that AOE has always followed in our administration of federal funds.”

But not every superintendent was convinced that signing the compliance form was no big deal. Winooski superintendent Wilmer Chavarria told Seven Days on Monday morning that he had told Saunders he would not sign it.

Chavarria, an immigrant from Nicaragua who helms the most diverse school district in the state, said he was concerned about the implications of signing a certification form that does not define what kinds of diversity, equity and inclusion practices the Trump administration believes are illegal.

Chavarria pointed to neighboring New York’s forceful response to the Trump administration’s request as a more admirable approach. Officials in that state’s education agency fired off a letter to the feds saying they would not return the federal certification form.

Instead, the letter said, the department was unaware of the federal government’s authority to demand a state “agree to its interpretation of a judicial decision or change the terms and conditions” of federal funding “without formal administrative process.”

Vermont hasn’t released its version of its response letter, but Chavarria said he sees the reversal as a victory. He believes the Agency of Education put undue stress on local school districts in initially asking them to sign the certification form.

More education-related directives are likely to come from the federal government in the coming weeks and months, Chavarria said, and he hopes this experience teaches Saunders and her agency “how to handle the next situation.”

Correction, April 8, 2025: The original version of the headline and this story referred to a presidential executive order when, in fact, the state’s response was to a federal directive from the U.S. Department of Education.