California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with a multistate coalition of Attorney Generals, issued guidance to K-12 schools and higher education institutions affirming their ability to maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies under federal civil rights laws and the U.S. Constitution. The guidance is a response to the U.S. Department of Education’s February 14, 2025 Dear Colleague letter , which threatened to withdraw federal funding and investigate institutions that retain DEI policies. The coalition asserts that longstanding legal precedent allows schools to foster diverse student bodies and that the federal government cannot prohibit these efforts through a Dear Colleague letter.
The guidance emphasizes that DEI policies remain legally permissible and essential for promoting educational opportunity. It rejects the idea that an executive order or administrative directive can override settled legal principles protecting educational access for students from diverse backgrounds. Attorney General Bonta reaffirmed his commitment to keeping California schools inclusive and safe, citing recent efforts to protect transgender and nonbinary students and to address concerns about immigration enforcement on school campuses. The coalition includes the attorneys general of California, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Attorney General Bonta’s press release can be found here and the guidance can be found here.