in effect
Executive Order 14280, signed April 23, 2025, directs federal education and law enforcement agencies to withdraw guidance that tied school discipline reviews to racial disparity statistics and to replace it with new guidance emphasizing that discipline decisions must be based on individual student behavior rather than aggregate racial outcome data. It is a directive order, meaning it sets internal government policy and assigns tasks to cabinet secretaries rather than creating new law.
The 2023 joint guidance from the Department of Education and Department of Justice — which flagged statistical racial disparities in discipline as potential Title VI violations — is effectively nullified by this order. Within 30 days, the Secretary of Education must issue new guidance to school districts and state education agencies clarifying that Title VI bars racial discrimination in discipline but does not require schools to adjust outcomes to match racial proportions. Within 60 days, the Education Secretary and Attorney General must begin coordinating with governors and state attorneys general on the same nondiscrimination standard. Within 90 days, the Secretary of Defense must update the discipline code for schools serving military families. Within 120 days, a multi-agency report to the President must inventory Title VI discipline investigations since 2009, assess nonprofit grant recipients’ role in promoting equity-based discipline practices, and produce model discipline policies.
Local school districts and state education agencies face new federal compliance expectations: they must follow the forthcoming guidance and may face enforcement action if the Education Secretary determines they are violating Title VI as reinterpreted under this order. Nonprofit organizations that receive federal grants and promote discipline approaches tied to racial disparity analysis may face scrutiny over whether their programs qualify for continued federal funding. Students and teachers are the stated intended beneficiaries, with the order asserting that behavior-based discipline — rather than discipline adjusted for racial statistics — will improve classroom safety and learning conditions.