{"id":24338,"date":"2026-03-30T08:21:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T08:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=24338"},"modified":"2026-03-30T08:21:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T08:21:32","slug":"failing-california-school-district-spends-over-900k-on-dei-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=24338","title":{"rendered":"Failing California School District Spends Over $900K on DEI Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Reading Time:<\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(AMERICAN GREATNESS) \u2013 A California school district that has spent nearly a million dollars on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs has been called out by the advocacy group Defending Education.\n<\/p>\n

Visit your state page to pray<\/span>.<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Defending Education, the Merced City School District has spent approximately $913,423 on DEI-related consultant contracts since 2025.\n<\/p>\n

The district, located in California\u2019s Central Valley, is considered one of the state\u2019s lower-performing school districts\u00a0based on test performances.\n<\/p>\n

Just the News reports that\u00a0data from the website\u00a0Niche\u00a0shows roughly 20 percent of students are proficient in math and 33 percent in reading, giving the district an overall grade of C.\n<\/p>\n

That distinction is raising serious questions about why the district signed a $270,000 agreement with Fresno-based School Yard Rap, which includes a \u201cRap Camp\u201d and an \u201cAfrican American Affinity Group\u201d for black students only.\n<\/p>\n

Erika Sanzi, the senior director of communications at Defending Education, says the spending priorities are misplaced, particularly given the district\u2019s academic performance.\n<\/p>\n

Sanzi told The Center Square, \u201cAny discretionary money should be focused on targeted interventions and remediation for the huge percentage of students who remained below grade level in reading and math.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cSpending nearly a million dollars on programs based around identity and activism is indefensible and, in the case of their affinity groups, also illegal.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The prospect of race-based programming in Merced public schools has also caught the attention of the Department of Justice, which described the allegations as \u201ctroubling.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division,\u00a0told\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0New York Post<\/em>, \u201cIt is illegal for the government to offer benefits solely on the basis of race. We have not had the opportunity to investigate these allegations, but if true, they are troubling.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The Merced City School District is defending its partnership with School Yard Rap in a statement released to FOX26 that reads as follows:\n<\/p>\n

Merced City School District proudly supports the partnership with contracted vendor, School Yard Rap, who foster a unique approach to education by engaging students through music, media, interactive assemblies and much more. The camps are advertised and open to all 3rd through 8th grade students across Merced City School District.\n<\/p>\n

A screenshot from the contract with School Yard Rap states that each day of the camp \u201cincludes two group sessions for up to 100 African American students.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Sanzi expressed concerns over the exclusionary focus on race but also took issue with the district\u2019s priorities, saying, \u201cIf equity was my goal, I\u2019d start with reading and math scores and income level to identify the students most in need of extra support.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Share your prayers for our schools below.<\/h4>\n

This article was originally published in American Greatness.<\/em>
\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: 2 minutes (AMERICAN GREATNESS) \u2013 A California school district that has spent nearly a million dollars on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs has been called out by the advocacy group Defending Education. Visit your state page to pray. \u00a0 According to Defending Education, the Merced City School District has spent approximately $913,423<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[8102,5080,834,2656,4438,2628,202,8101],"class_list":["post-24338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-prayer","tag-900k","tag-california","tag-dei","tag-district","tag-failing","tag-programs","tag-school","tag-spends"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}