San Francisco schools urge judge to block AmeriCorps grant cuts over DEI

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — The intent of President Donald Trump’s executive orders could determine the budget of an entire school district.

The San Francisco Unified School District asked a federal judge on Friday to stop AmeriCorps, a federal agency that oversees grants and funding for underserved populations nationwide, from taking back any funds it has already awarded to the district for programs that have diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

The school district claims AmeriCorps has conditioned its funding on unlawfully vague directives following a series of executive orders on DEI practices, “gender ideology” and climate change issued by President Donald Trump this year.

“When they agreed to take AmeriCorps grant funding, they agreed to comply with all executive orders,” said Sapna S. Mehta of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, who represented AmeriCorps.

Although the school district won a temporary order from the court in March that bars the agency from modifying any previously awarded grants, the judge now could determine the future of the school district’s federal funding.

Senior U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen put AmeriCorps’ arguments of compliance with “all executive orders” to the test.

“Does that include all executive orders, including potentially unlawful ones? Is that a blank check?” Chen asked.

Mehta demurred, saying, “I think that’s a matter of contract interpretation."

At other points during the hearing, Chen was more explicit about his potential concerns about the president’s directives.

“What if the executive order says ‘Don’t do anything I don’t like, as the president?’ There’s no ability to challenge that?” the Barack Obama appointee asked.

Again touting a contract, Mehta replied, “Well, that’s the risk that the grantee takes when they agree to the contract."

Meanwhile, the schools said these efforts were “markedly different” from any orders to simply follow federal law, arguing that the recent about-face by the agency directly contravenes the terms of their original grant funding, which required their express commitment to enacting DEI practices.

According to the school district’s lawsuit, AmeriCorps issued a directive on Feb. 13 to stop all grant activities that “promote DEI” and get in line with Trump’s positions on DEI and climate change or have their funding taken away.

The school district claims the directive to withhold funding violates the spending clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act, adding that the government was attempting to coerce the school district to adopt the same policies as the Trump administration.

“Vagueness” pervaded Friday’s hearing. Although Chen asked Mehta several times to clarify AmeriCorps’ funding instructions concerning DEI programs, specifics did not come.

Mehta ducked questions about what school programs counted as DEI-related, declining an invitation to opine if specific district programs like restorative justice circles, identity-based student clubs or cultural heritage celebrations like Black History Month, Lunar New Year or LGBTQ+ Pride Month were covered by its DEI instructions.

On several occasions, Mehta couldn’t answer what terms like “equity” or “equity action” meant in terms of the programs AmeriCorps wants to defund.

“As I understand the executive orders, it’s the administration’s interpretation of how DEI programs are implemented,” Mehta said, adding, “I don’t have a specific response on what the executive order requires, but AmeriCorps’ directives are not putting forth a separate position."

Meanwhile, the school district said this vagueness made it hard to comply with the executive orders without violating the law, and argued the White House “didn’t do the work” to define these terms.

“Congress’ purpose is very clear. It wants to target underserved communities,” said Molly Alarcon of the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, representing the school district.

Chen meanwhile expressed disappointment with the lack of case law on the matter but said he’d issue a ruling “as soon as possible.”

The school district receives nearly $700,000 from AmeriCorps annually, which it primarily uses to tutor vulnerable students at 38 public schools in the district. Superintendent Maria Su said the money from AmeriCorps was integral to supporting vital programs and preserving resources for the district, which was already planning to lay off teachers to address a $113 million deficit when the clawback threat came down.

The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, joined the San Francisco Unified in the lawsuit, claiming it would need to eliminate programs for seniors and children if the AmeriCorps funding is taken away.

This isn’t the first time the White House’s new directives around DEI have been tested in court. This month, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation also claimed vagueness when its federal funding was rescinded.