DEI Is Disappearing - Not by Force, But By Compliance

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Dr. Jay Breneman, President of Erie School Board urges school districts, in particular the Erie School District, to refrain from preemptively dismantling DEI programs that serve students, effectively stripping our schools of equity, history, and truth.

Across the country, school boards and administrators are gutting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs — not because they must, but because they think it will protect them. The truth is, they are dismantling equity initiatives before anyone even demands it, preemptively surrendering to a political assault that will not stop at DEI.

We've seen this before. Not just in schools, not just in policy, but in every historical moment where those in power moved to silence and control through intimidation rather than outright force. The method is always the same: erase the language, frame justice as a threat, make people afraid to speak, punish those who refuse to comply, and let fear do the rest.

And school boards and administrators are already falling in line — sometimes without realizing it.

In Texas, universities recently dismantled DEI offices. In Florida, state mandates are forcing districts to strip equity policies from their charters. But in many other districts (places where no legal requirement exists) leaders are still shutting down DEI — not because they have to, but because they fear they'll be targeted next.

Maybe they're considering cutting diversity initiatives before someone complains or they've already told their staff to "stick to the basics." Maybe they're debating whether it is worth the trouble to fight back at all.

They're telling themselves this is "strategy." That they are just keeping their heads down, that they are protecting their schools, but they're lying to themselves.

This movement isn't looking for minor compliance. It isn't playing fair — it's hunting for reasons to strip funding, gut programs, and force schools into total submission. If school boards and administrators think renaming DEI will make a difference, if they think toning down equity work will keep them off the radar, they haven't been paying attention. They are carrying out the rollback for this administration, removing programs before the order even comes down.

This is how oppression wins — not through laws alone, but through bureaucrats and administrators who convince themselves they are "playing smart" while they quietly hand over everything that makes schools even remotely equitable.

The slow surrender of public education

Let's stop pretending that school boards and administrators weren't already being pressured to erase equity long before this moment.

Where was this urgency for justice before jobs were on the line? Where was this fear when Black, Indigenous, Brown, Asian, Pacific Islander, disabled, and undocumented students were disproportionately suspended, tracked out of AP courses, or denied the same resources as their white peers? Schools weren't afraid then. They weren't afraid when the disparities were quiet, and the harm was slow.

But now, suddenly, school boards and administrators are scared — not of what their students will lose, but of what they might lose if they refuse to comply.

Some districts will say they are just protecting their budgets — but they aren't protecting students, they aren't protecting truth, and in the end, compliance will not protect their funding either — it will only make the next demand come faster.

And let's be clear: this doesn't stop with DEI. The same playbook is being used to erase LGBTQIA+ existence, to strip libraries of books that challenge dominant narratives, and to turn teachers into enforcers of an oppressive lie.

This isn't just about whitewashing history—it's about rewriting it into a weapon.

It's about manufacturing a version of education where oppression never existed, where justice was never necessary, where inequality is recast as fairness and where those who suffer are told it is their own fault.

Schools won't face the consequences — students will

School boards and administrators think they can deflect blame, that the backlash will be aimed at state lawmakers or national political figures, but they are wrong. Students won't blame the governor's office or some faceless official in Washington. They will blame the people sitting in front of them in school board meetings. They will remember who took the books from their libraries. They will remember who sat quietly while their friends were erased from the curriculum and social activities. They will remember who enforced policies that told them their struggles weren't real. They will remember who nodded along in meetings while their education was stripped to the bone.

And what's worse? This compliance won't save anyone's job, because there is no version of this where compliance is enough.

Schools can erase every DEI initiative, delete every mention of racial disparities, purge every book that doesn't fit the new worldview — and they will still come for more. Because this isn't about DEI: this is about submission.

This isn't new — it's just escalating

None of this started with the Trump administration; the American public education system was never designed for justice. It has always been an apparatus of racial and class control. Indigenous communities have always known this: their languages, histories, and cultures were stripped from schools long before DEI became a political flashpoint.

Black communities have always known this: from segregated schools (de facto and de jure) to tracking, to discipline disparities — the system has always been built to exclude and punish them.

Disabled students have always known this: their existence in classrooms has been treated as an inconvenience, their support systems slashed at the first sign of a budget cut — if even funded at all.

Immigrant, refugee, and undocumented students have always known this: their futures have been debated ad nauseam as if their humanity is up for discussion.

LGBTQIA+ students have always known this: their lives erased, their identities treated as threats.

This moment is not new. What is new is that school boards and administrators are making the same mistake they always do — thinking that silence will protect them.

Resistance is not a statement, it's a strategy

Most people won't care if schools release a statement, because no one needs symbolic gestures.

If district leaders are serious about resisting, here is what that actually looks like:

1. Refusing to enforce policies that erase protections, even at risk to the district.

2. Using budget priorities, policy reviews, and legal protections to insulate students from harm.

3. Ensuring that banned histories, books, and knowledge still reach students — through partnerships, underground networks, or direct defiance.

4. Building a coalition strong enough that when they come for school policies, they cannot come for the people inside the system.

If school leaders aren't doing this, they aren't resisting. They are surrendering. And some will pretend that they "just can't," that their hands are tied, that they have no choice but to comply. That if they resist, their schools will lose funding or their jobs will be at risk.

That might be true.

But what they are really saying is that their comfort, their paychecks, and their professional security are more important than the survival of the most vulnerable students in their districts. At least be honest about it.

The real crisis isn't DEI getting banned, it's school leaders banning it themselves

This isn't just a local fight — it is a national one. School boards and administrators are deciding, right now, whether they will let public education be stripped of equity, history, and truth. But compliance won't save them. It will only accelerate the rollback.

The question is not whether DEI will survive — it's whether school leaders will stop dismantling it themselves before the real fight even begins. Because in the end, they will be remembered for one thing: either they erased history, or they refused to let it disappear.

Jay Breneman has served as the Board President of Erie's Public Schools since 2023. He is an educator and policy professional with expertise in governance and equity. He lives in Erie with his wife and their three school-aged children. Readers can reach him at jaybreneman@gmail.com.