Indiana Watchdog Releases DEI Audit. This Is a Model for States Across the US.

Last year, many Indiana public school teachers promised to end racist diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in schools. If successful, such assurances and the policies that follow would be models for other states. How’s it going?

Turns out, the racism in public education runs deep. This week, the Indiana Family Institute released an audit of DEI in the state’s K-12 schools and found that significant work remains. While some school officials have wiped DEI statements from their websites along with mentions of so-called antiracism, auditors report, “Quietly deleting DEI language from websites may improve public perception, but it does not ensure that the policies, trainings, and practices themselves have been dismantled.”

The audit demonstrates that district administrators have snuck DEI in through the back door by way of staff positions, professional development for teachers, curricula, strategic planning, and student programming. Educators carefully renamed certain activities and positions without changing the descriptions, allowing DEI to persist under the radar.

Auditors even identified recommendations from the state Department of Education that continue to apply DEI-related concepts to instruction. For example, the Indiana Department of Education recommends a literature curriculum called “Wit & Wisdom” that teaches students to interpret reading assignments from the perspective of “power, oppression, race, gender, and social identity.” Some of the materials showcasing the work of communist artists are included in assignments for kindergarteners.

In Carmel Clay Schools, just 30 minutes north of Indianapolis, school officials use equity grading techniques to evaluate student work. These grading practices assume that ethnic minorities are oppressed in public school systems and need lower standards just to get by. Districts such as San Diego Unified in California adopted equitable grading practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, making schoolwork effectively optional for students.

In Carmel Clay, students can turn in blank assignments and still receive 50% credit. And as in San Diego, students can take exams more than once to improve their scores. Policies such as this do not inspire student achievement but, instead, foster the soft bigotry of low expectations.

Carmel Clay is a particularly stark example, as the Family Institute’s audit provides pictures from middle and high schools in the district that promote drag queens and “transgenderism” on hallway placards.

Officials from other districts have been more subtle. In Fort Wayne, near the Ohio border, school personnel have renamed DEI staff positions while keeping the responsibilities the same. One “director of DEI” role was simply changed to “director of students & staff relations.”

The Family Institute’s report has nearly 70 pages filled with examples. The use of racial preferences and advocacy for radical gender policies conflicts with state and federal civil rights laws, as well as basic biology.

“Rather than fostering unity, DEI frameworks often encourage resentment, categorize individuals as oppressors or the oppressed, and shift focus away from merit, personal responsibility, and shared citizenship,” said the Indiana Family Institute’s Ryan McCann.

Given the findings, the report recommends additional audits of every public school district in Indiana. Researchers should review curricula, scour school policies for violations of parental rights, and confirm that hiring and promotion practices are based on merit. State legislators should prohibit the use and application of DEI and racial preferences in school materials. Policymakers should consider the provisions from Idaho and Florida that say no teacher or student can be compelled to affirm an idea that violates civil rights laws.

Meanwhile, local school boards should not wait for state lawmakers to act but should adopt policies that reject racial preferences and stop instruction that tells students they can choose a different gender.

No child should be discriminated against because of skin color or sex, and DEI betrays the idea of equality under the law by advocating for racism in the name of equity. Yet instead of treating students equally, DEI policies create favored classes through gross violations of civil rights statutes.

The Indiana Family Institute has performed a valuable service for policymakers and moms and dads. While Indiana K-12 law is too lenient for now and hardly a national model, the Family Institute’s audit is a design worth repeating around the country.