A Georgia bill to ban DEI in schools and colleges nears passage, even as potential effects stay hazy
A Georgia bill to ban DEI in schools and colleges nears passage, even as potential effects stay hazy
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers could pass a bill banning a sweepingly broad range of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in Georgia’s public schools, colleges and universities on the last day of their 2025 session.
Republicans in Martin Luther King Jr’s home state muscled House Bill 127 through the Senate early Thursday morning on a party-line 33-21 vote, meaning the House must vote only once on Friday to give final passage.
The measure has advanced even as Senate Republicans repeatedly shut down debate and testimony on what the proposed law would actually require.
The move comes as President Donald Trump’s administration escalates its efforts against DEI in K-12 schools, colleges, public agencies and private workplaces. For example, on Thursday, the administration gave states and K-12 schools 10 days to sign a certification that demands compliance with the administration’s interpretation of federal civil rights laws and threatens loss of federal money or lawsuits for defrauding the federal government.
What does Georgia’s bill say?
The measure would ban any policy or procedure “designed or implemented with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity or sexual orientation.”
Conservative groups have promoted the language, including the Goldwater Institute based in Arizona. It was passed into law in Iowa last year and similar wording has been introduced this year in at least nine states, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural.
As least 16 other states have passed laws, rules or budget language that bar or restrict DEI practices. The University System of Georgia eliminated use of DEI statements in hiring at its 26 universities and colleges in 2023.
Georgia’s measure also bans colleges and universities from promoting concepts including social justice and racial privilege as well as such ideas as intersectionality — the thought that people experience particular forms of discrimination when they have overlapping identities, such as being Black and a woman.
The measure would withhold state and state-administered federal funding from any school district or college that disobeys, but doesn’t outline a process for determining noncompliance.
What do supporters and opponents say?
Sen. Max Burns, a Sylvania Republican, said Thursday that DEI has run far off course and must be eliminated.
“Education in Georgia must now address a concept, which while perhaps fundamentally well-intentioned, is fundamentally discriminatory in the academic environment,” Burns said.
He argued the bill would guarantee equality of opportunity and that taxpayers are paying for discrimination.
“Every Georgian deserves an opportunity to achieve without being discriminated against,” Burns said.
Opponents say the bill would reverse gains Black people made in Georgia during the Civil Rights movement, and argue the state still needs to help students overcome historic discrimination.
Chase Pettiford of Georgia Tech’s NAACP chapter said at a February news conference that diversity programs help her feel welcomed at a school where only 8% of students are Black. Diversity programs don’t pose “some unfair advantage or ideology that arms other groups,” she said.
“We are watching our institutions that have made great strides in the last 50 years regress in front of our eyes and it is heartbreaking,” Pettiford said.
What remains unknown about the measure?
It’s not clear how the bill would affect public schools and universities.
Georgia, for example, operates three historically Black public universities — Albany State University, Fort Valley State University and Savannah State University.
What GOP supporters have said hasn’t been illuminating. Republicans have repeatedly suggested the measure would ban discrimination in university admissions, even though Georgia’s university system has been banned from using racial preferences in admissions since losing a court case in 2000.
It’s also unclear whether schools could allow or fund student groups with racial or ethnic affiliations, like an Asian American student association or a historically Black sorority. Burns suggested that such groups could still be funded using student fees, but the bill doesn’t say that explicitly.
Also unclear is the fate of observances including Black history month. Would school librarians be prohibited from creating displays of women authors, or could a college pay for a banquet observing Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday?
Finally, the measure could curtail teachers’ freedom. Supporters have highlighted as one problem a graduate school certificate in DEI at the University of Georgia’s college of education. That academic unit is named for Mary Frances Early, the first Black graduate of the once-segregated institution.
Original sponsor Marty Harbin, a Republican senator from Tyrone, said last month that a constituent who attended Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville complained about being required to list preferred pronouns and about an English reading assignment.
As a protest, one of 20 rejected Democratic amendments said: “Academic freedom in the state of Georgia is under greater threat than ever. Please help.”
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Associated Press writer Charlotte Kramon contributed.
By JEFF AMY
Associated Press
