Colorado’s education commissioner said she remains committed to preventing discrimination in schools, but she won’t sign a new U.S. Department of Education certification regarding the issue, calling the demand “unlawful.”
The certification clarifies how Title VI, which is contained within the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is being interpreted under President Donald Trump. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division website.
The new certification defines antidiscrimination obligations as those contained “under civil rights laws and Students For Fair Admission v. Harvard,” a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court case that rejected college admissions efforts to match the racial composition of their student bodies with those of their communities at-large.
“Any violation of Title VI – including the use of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) programs to advantage one’s race over another – is impermissible,” the new certification reads.
But the new demand, made in an April 3 letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, does not carry the weight of law, Colorado Commissioner of Education Susana Cordova told the Colorado State Board of Education during a meeting April 10 in Denver.
State commissioners were told to sign the new certifications and collect certification responses from each of their local school districts and other local education agencies within 10 days, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Education. Failure to do so could lead to the loss of federal funding in the state’s public schools, the commissioners were told by Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for its Office of Civil Rights.
Cordova told the state board of education she will not comply or ask any of the state’s 179 public school districts and other educational agencies to do so.
They all provided the legally required assurances for the 2024-25 school year, as they do annually, last fall and cannot be compelled to do so again through a rushed process that does not comply with the federal Paperwork Reduction Act process put in place by the Office of Management and Budget, Cordova said.
That act requires multiple postings over 90 days in the Federal Register, with an opportunity for public comment, before the Office of Management and Budget can either reject it or accept it, Michelle Berge, CDE’s legal counsel, told the State Board of Education. If accepted, OMB assigns it a number that must be included on any documentation seeking the information requested. That process, Berge said, provides “clarity to make sure it’s a lawful request and to consider the burden on the entities that have to respond.”
The April 3 letter from the U.S. Department of Education did not go through that process and is, therefore, not a legal request, Cordova said.
“It would be unlawful to restrict federal funding because somebody declines to sign a document that we’re not legally obligated to sign,” Cordova told the Board of Education. “And furthermore, frankly, I would be uncomfortable signing a certification that binds us to federal guidance that doesn’t have the force of law. I would be uncomfortable signing a certification that lacks definitions and clarity around what is and what is not prohibited.
“And I think that is particularly true given that the certifications come with the potential consequence of loss of federal funds. So, I’m not signing that; I’m not asking our districts to sign that.”
Colorado is not alone in rejecting the U.S. Department of Education’s demand, Berge said, noting that she has been in contact with legal counsel for other state education departments across the country. Through those conversations, she said she has heard that state education commissioners in Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin have also declined to sign the certification for similar reasons.
Susana Cordova, Colorado’s Commissioner of Education, speaks at Liberty Common High School in Fort Collins, Colo., on March 10, 2025.
“I do want to indicate my commitment to comply with Title VI and the Supreme Court cases interpreting Title VI,” Cordova said. “It is not required, but I am going to sign the OMB-approved civil rights assurances so that my name, in addition to the department’s previous commissioner who signed our previous assurance, is on file and on record to be able to indicate that we’re fully enforcing Title VI both here at the department and across the state.”
Federal funds made up about $1.27 billion, or 8.3%, of the $15.17 billion Colorado and its school districts spent on K-12 education in 2023-24, according to the Colorado Fiscal Institute.
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How Cordova’s comments were received
Cordova’s comments came during an update members of the state Board of Education requested April 9. The elected board consists of one representative from each of the state’s eight congressional districts and one representing the state at-large.
Members were generally supportive of the commissioner’s approach from a legal standpoint to the U.S. Department of Education’s demand, although it appeared based on comments afterward that the board’s five Democrats and four Republicans were split philosophically along party lines on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.
“The real reason, I think, behind not signing this is political rather than legal,” said Steve Durham, a Republican who represents the 5th Congressional District and was attending the meeting remotely. “There can be significant debate or disagreement about what DEI actually is, but there is plenty of evidence of its misuse and its misuse to discriminate in employment and other opportunities and other manners that are prohibited by Title VI.”
Board member Karla Esser, a Democrat representing the 7th Congressional District, also noted that it is difficult to define DEI and said that ambiguity provided another reason not to sign the new certification.
“If you ask 15 people to define DEI, all 15 would define it differently,” Esser said. “So, because we have no definition, I wouldn’t sign it to begin with, even if it did have an OMB number. And the other issue is that Title VI is very clear. So, if we are adhering to Title VI, I think you’ve done a great job for our state. Thank you very much.”
Susana Cordova, Colorado’s Commissioner of Education, visits a classroom at Liberty Common High School in Fort Collins, Colo., on March 10, 2025.
Another Republican member, Kristi Burton Brown from the 4th Congressional District, asked the state Department of Education to send a reminder to its school districts and other local education agencies that they could choose to sign the new certification, even if the state will not.
“Different districts are going to have different comfort levels with being willing to risk federal funding,” Burton Brown said.
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, x.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado’s education commissioner calls DOE demand ‘unlawful’