Gov. Abbott wants to ban DEI in all levels of public education
AUSTIN – During his State of the State address Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced his intention to end Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in public education.
"Last session, we banned DEI in universities. We must ban DEI in grades K-12. We must also expand the ban on DEI in our public universities. We must purge it from every corner of our schools and return the focus to merit," Abbott said.
His comments received applause from attendees, including state and business leaders along with his supporters. Last week, the governor issued an executive order telling state agencies to ban what he described as "racist DEI policies."
During an interview with CBS News Texas, Abbott was asked what he would say to African Americans, Latinos, and those in the LGBTQ community who may feel targeted by his policy.
"Everyone needs to understand exactly what is meant by the elimination of DEI," Abbott said. "DEI violates the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Texas. What both of those documents require is no discrimination on the basis of race. Most DEI programs say we're going to have a special program for students of or people of this particular race or that particular race. That's totally unconstitutional."
Texas Democrats have previously criticized the governor's statements and have insisted that DEI is not illegal.
You can watch the governor's comments on DEI coming up Sunday morning on "Eye On Politics." He also discussed his request for Congress to reimburse the state of Texas the $11.1 billion it has spent to secure the border during the Biden administration, plus the school choice bill that he is fighting for.
Watch "Eye On Politics" at 7:30 a.m. Sunday on CBS News Texas on air and streaming.
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